Grimgal of Fantasy and Schizophrenia
by Farstride
Summary: One schizophrenic man wakes up in a cave filled with twelve other voices, and quite a lot more inside his head. This is their story. The setup is simple: One man in grimgar, everyone else in the real world as voices in his head telling him what to do and where to go. Then we sit back and see what the hell happens to that unholy combination, no holds barred. Dead fic - ye be warned!
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Mega-MUST READ note:**_

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 _This fic is the complete version of a [Quest] setup on the website SpaceBattles, under the same name. It's updated mostly daily, which means I **don't** have time to re-check each submission for errors. Hopefully only minor ones go under the radar, but do expect them to happen. Once I've got enough material, I bundle it up and post a chapter here. Everything that's not shown in either the anime or the LN gets the AU treatment. Combat, attempts to persuade, and so forth are calculated by dice so I don't get biased. No plot armor for anyone; the universe punishes stupid decisions accordingly like it damn well should._

 _Like Grimgal, this story also starts slow and takes it's time. Interesting plot hooks start happening around chapter 3._

If you like worldbuilding and dialog heavy stories, you might like this one.  
If you don't like original character's or self-insert characters (Which is the entire point of this fic) you'll want to skip out on this one.

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 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

 _"Awaken"_

Someone whispered in my ears. Or maybe my mind. Whatever it was, felt like the wrath of god had poured twelve buckets of ice water over the face. You know, that sudden wake up call - like noticing a massive spider crawling near your nose. With fangs and a bad attitude of course. That's me right there.

Well - Now wide awake and flooded with adrenaline, the second thing noticed was the glint of fire all around. Specifically candle lights. They dotted the walls of the corridor I happen to be loitering around. The rocks felt rough to the touch once examined in more detail, oddly enough. Expected them to be damp if we were in a cave. Wait. Who's we? There was some sort of low buzzing around, like muttering. It sounded like a muffled conversation even. Any attempts to focus on those sounds didn't get far. It was like holding smoke, utterly impossible. Most disturbing of all - almost sure that buzzing was in my head.

Thankfully those thoughts quickly left well enough alone because there were other voices – outside my head, thank you very much.

Someone on the side called out, "Is there someone else here?" And then all sorts of replies followed from left and right. "Yeah." A guy said. A woman's voice was next; "I'm here," We're one big happy family looks like, alone in the dark. Considering I'm the one hearing voices in my head and not just outside it, the spot in the tribe here might be the crazy conspiracy nutjob uncle. Every family worth it's salt had to have one at least.  
"How many are here?" Someone else said, "Why don't you try counting?" A snarkier someone else replied. The voices around continued to chatter, but it was hard to put a face on any of these people. Candlelight is pretty shit. Where was this place anyhow? Why isn't there any good lighting in here?

Then it hit like the utterly sobering shock of opening an unexpectedly empty cookie jar – I have no fucking idea where I am. Or what exactly would be better lighting then candlelight. A bonfire? Torch? No no no no, there's something _much_ better than that but what _is_ it exactly? The word is sitting on the edge of my tongue, taunting like bacon during diet season. How did I get here anyhow? And what's a cookie?  
"Can't just sit here forever," some guy in the background said clearly, then the rustle of the man standing up. Looks like it's time to stretch the legs a bit. When someone asked him where he was going, he replied "Going to try following the candles down this wall," And behind him a tiny fan club springs into being. Not that I can complain, because I'm definitely all over that. We're walking out of here all together. There could **actually** be spiders down here you know? (The ones with the fangs and shitty outlooks on life.)

In the candlelight, it's difficult to see people. They look more like shades. Details are colorblind and faces might as well be changing every single time the candle shadows shift a bit. That said, of the details picked up here's the list:

Everyone seemed pretty young.

I don't know any of these people. Actually, I don't know anyone period. No family, no friends, nothing. It's a big giant hole in the memory. The more thought about things unknown, the more a feeling I'll lose even more crept in. So did the smart thing and put thinking about it for later tonight.

Don't think anyone else hears voices. Except for the kid behind me, who's muttering to himself, "…. Better…. not think about it."  
All that could be caught. Well, here's someone I wouldn't want to see anywhere near a knife.

Wasn't the only one who heard him either, a girl called him out on it but he deflects it sheepishly. "No, nothing. Nothing really. It's…" and then he shuts up. We walked for maybe 10 minutes more. It was a really long cave.  
Of course all good things come to an end; we hit a gate. The party leader who'd set the pace of this mini-adventure walked over and announced he was going to open it. A yank and a creak later, he delivered. That led to a bit of idle chatter and murmurs, and onward our merry band went. Into stairs and into what looked like human made construction. At least we were sure there wouldn't be a dead end. Hopefully.

And then we ran into a dead end.  
Second gate at the top of the stairs, this time the leader guy wasn't able to persuade it open. So he did what anyone would do next, complain angrily. "Anyone there? Open the gate!" We all joined in on the yelling. I like yelling. And like spoiled brats throwing a tantrum, the inevitable happened: We got what we wanted. The sweet sound of iron tumblers unlocking made me a bit sad because now I didn't have an excuse to yell anymore. Not.

"Get out," A voice behind the gate said. Unlike spoiled brats we did exactly as asked. Up the stairs some more and into an actual room. Pretty empty, no windows, and few lamps to keep people from stubbing their feet on something. The gatekeeper turned out to be a knight. As in, with armor and everything. Had a sword too. He scored pretty high on the do-not-fuck-with meter. The man flipped a switch on the walls and the walls moved to open a way out. Don't really think it could be described any better. It was ripped straight out of a tomb raider moment to be honest. And what's a tomb raider moment? I can't really understand why I even thought of that. How does a stone wall opening up match up with someone robbing tombs? The voices in the background buzzed again, but no understanding them like usual. No matter how hard I tried to eavesdrop. But the buzzing voices were **not** from the people around me, that was certain. It might be all in my head. No time to think about it though.

"Get out," Mr. Knight told us in a very friendly and completely encouraging manner. He likely cared more for the mildew on the walls then us. Our original leader that brought the group out of darkness went in first without a word. I actually got a good look at him this time. Silver hair and ripped. He looked like an Asian jock. What's Asian? And what's a jock? More missing memories. Following the silver-hair, our group actually went outside into fresh air. The sun was setting, or rising depending, and the sky was a very deep blue. Behind was a tower so assuming I've actually been underneath that tower this entire time.

And that's when I truly _heard_ those voices. Or rather heard them more clearly this time. A loud one spoke in my head, _"_ _Socialize with the group. Get to know some of the people around you."_ Pretty stunned here. Was I seriously hearing voices in my head? And then more voices showed up. A bit of panic came over me. _Voices_. Goddamn voices. One of them whispered, _"_ _Talk to the knight."_ Two others berated that, _"_ _Relax,"_ they said. And with that, I felt the panic go down with their order. _"_ _Go with the flow. Be a wallflower for now."_ Before I realized it, my feet are already walking me to that wall. There is a distinct lack of flowers on that smooth stone and I happen to have the fix for that.

Just as quick as they appeared, the voices returned to the unintelligible buzzing once their suggestion was followed. Ok. I'm a little on the insane side aren't I? I am **literally** hearing voices in my head, and what's worse: I'm doing what they're telling me to. What could _possibly_ go wrong with that plan? But they told me to relax, so relax I did. The thought of voices in my head didn't really panic me anymore by now, it was kind of comforting in a way.

So. A wallflower I decided to be, and a damned good wallflower I was going to be. Watch me voices, I'll make you all proud. The headcount of people around came down to a whopping thirteen, yours truly included. Most of us were men, but there were four girls among us. Clothing wise, we all _had_ clothing so pick your pick if that's a good thing or not. At least I had my favorite fuck-everything-I'm-staying-home sweatshirt. Perfect for cold days… and how do I know it's my favorite again? Can't remember. Having a favorite sweatshirt must mean I had other sweatshirts to compare too right?

"That looks like a city," someone around me said, waking me out of self-reflection mode. That man was pointing at some glint beyond the hill. Everyone turned their heads and yes, there looked to be civilization over yonder hill. Even had a stone wall circle lazily around it. "A castle," the kid next to me whispered. Turns out, I'm not the only wallflower on this wall, how he snuck up on my turf I'll never know. Clearly he must be skilled at sneaking around right? I can't possibly be that blind right?  
"So… where is this?" a tiny girl besides him asked. A grand total of three wallflowers on my wall. Two of them illegal aliens, I should deport them. This was my turff goddammit. Made a promise to be the best wallflower after all; the less competition the better for me.  
"No use asking me, dunno." The kid answered back. "Ah, sorry." She answered, "Does anyone know? Where are we?"  
And now other people noticed the wallflower trio. Clearly I should have picked a better wall to sulk under. Voices, forgive me, I failed you. As for her question, everyone knew exactly diddly squat.

Quickly the group decided to ask the knight about it. Or rather, knights. The one in the room had followed us out, and a second one was waiting outside. Sneak skill must be maxed, no one noticed him at all. He looked utterly bored. As if watching a random group of complete strangers gawk at the outdoors was just another Tuesday for him.  
"Hey man," a goofy guy with a tank top shirt had gone up to the guard. "Do you know where we are?" He looked beyond annoyed. "Grimgal. Head down the road and you'll reach the recruiting office. We'll escort you there." His teammate had walked up to him already, shouldering a clunky sack. "Don't wonder," The other added, "Monsters are difficult to manage even in daylight with equipment and training. At night, you lot won't stand a chance. Sun will be up soon, but it won't be out by the time we reach the office." With a grunt, he walked down the steps and away from our tower. The other knight followed wordlessly, the clanking armor making all the noise for him instead. The rest of our group slunk behind them without question.

Down the hill we went, following the road. Other than crickets, the only sound was the mass footsteps on dirt from our group. It was pretty noisy surprisingly. Then we entered a more somber part of the road. Around us were white rocks that dotted the hillside. At least a hundred, if not more. It looked like they were planted everywhere but there was a vague pattern once you glanced a bit more critically. On first thought: A graveyard. This had to be a graveyard. But who's?  
Someone asked the knights, but they didn't care to answer. Rude. My fellow wallflower/ninja-kid ahead of me didn't seem to care, his eyes were glued skywards. Taking a glance upwards to see what had captivated him so. A blood red moon, crimson actually. Pretty, but there was an odd nagging thought in my mind: The moon wasn't supposed to be red. That's not a question either, I'm 200% sure the moon is not supposed to be red. But I can't for the life of me remember what color it was _actually_ supposed to be. Red it was not. Blue maybe? No, that didn't feel right either. I wanted to ask others if they saw the same thing. I mean – I _was_ mildly insane after all. I could just be seeing it. But then I remembered the voices. _Go with the flow. Relax._ Good point. What does it matter if the moon is blue or red? It's just a moon. And the graveyard around me? Not my problem, it's pretty scenic after all.  
We reached the office after about twenty minutes of walking. The sun still hadn't gone up, but the sky was a lighter shade of blue by the time we reached there. It was a shabby little hut, a signpost next to it with some language I couldn't read, and the roofs look like they were patched up as they broke down. Inside, we ran into another odd sight.

"Welcome to Grimgar. This is the town of Ortana." He said, hunched over the counter with one hand holding his chin up. Red hair, lipstick, drag attire, and a look that said he wasn't a bottom. "I'd like to give you a warm welcome, my kittens." I broke out in goosebumps at that last one. Ensign, full power to wallflower engines, make it so not even the goddamn air knows we're here. "My name is Brittany. I'm chief and host of the Red Moon Office for the Volunteer Soldier's Squad of Ortana's Borderlands Brigade."

No one said shit. He was not phased by that either. "You can call me chief. Or Bri – but only if you say it affectionately." He says with a shit eating grin. I am now a monk of the wallflower god, my devotion unquestionable, my skin: The stone itself. No one can possibly see me. I am beyond this mortal world, enlightened.  
Silver hair calls him out on it while I rapture my way out of everyone's attention.  
"Give me answers." He says. "What the hell is the Volunteer Soldier's Squad? Why am I here?"  
"Demanding aren't you? But, I don't mind one's like you." Shit eating grin has returned.  
"It's Renji. And I don't like homo's like you." Silver hair says matter-of-fact. Not my problem, I'm relaxed and taking it easy. No one can see me anyhow. Which turned out good for me, as Brittney lunged out faster than I could blink and held a dagger to Renji's throat. Everyone gasped. Except for me. I am a mountain.

"Renji, let me give you some advice." He says, "No one has called me homo and lived long." His voice lifted slightly, "Wanna find out yourself?" Silver hair still doesn't back down, grabs the dagger on its bladed side and holds his ground. "Go ahead and try."  
"In time." The drag queen answers. "And then, I'll get you good. You won't be able to forget me after that." He says, letting go of the dagger and licking his fingers. Then we get into the meat of the game. "10 silver." Brittney says. "Anyone who signs up for the volunteer soldier's squad gets 10 silver as recruitment fee. You should be able to live off it for the time being." He continued, taking out what looks like round dogtags. "For the moment, anyone who takes the 10 silver recruitment will only get a trainee's badge. See, this badge here is worth 20 silver. It marks a fully-fledged member. With 20 silver, you can buy your own, which comes with its own benefits."  
"We have to buy them?" Someone with curly hair in the back said. He didn't seem happy with that.  
"Doesn't matter to me." Brittney says, "Either way, if you're not strong enough, you'll die."  
"And what, exactly, are we supposed to do?" Renji asks. Ever to the point that guy.  
"My dear Renji, you disappoint me." Mr. Most-Certainly-Top answers, "You'll defeat enemies by gathering information with your own wits and determination." Fuck. That sounds like work. "That's the way of a volunteer soldier," he finishes.

Renji sums it up well, "So basically we need to find out things and figure out everything on our own." Brittney follows it up, "Exactly. I adore fast learners. After you defeat a monster, take all the spoils and sell them. These are the basics." And with almost an oversight, he mentions, "Don't think that there are other types of menial labor to do. It's a different story if you want to be my personal pet of mine of course, but you will not find any other work in this city."  
So we're locked in to this? Is he telling the truth, or do people like us not get any choice but to fight monsters? Well, that's shit. The _voices_ had other plans.

And they wanted me to be social _and_ sneaky this time around. _"_ _Talk to others around you.", "Gather info," ,_ " _TALK_ "  
Fine. Ask me to be a wallflower one second, and a social butterfly the next. First one on my to-do list are my fellow wallflowers, the ninja-kid and his sidekick, Mrs. Shy. Come to think of it, I haven't said anything much over this last hour. Comes with the territory of being insane I suppose. Brittany was still 'talking' with Renji, the silver hair'd aggressive jock. Other people had began discussing among themselves about his offer. Seems it's my chance to get to know people.

"Hey you." I said, elbowing the ninja-kid. "What's your name?"  
He looked confused for a moment, but quickly answered back. "It's umm, it's Haruhiro."  
"Good, good. I'm …" Wait, who was I again? SB? Must have been some sort of initials for something. Wow that sounds lame. But I can't put my finger on what. "I'm SB. Don't ask why, I don't know either."  
He nodded at that but our attention was picked up by the antics of the messy-hair brat in front of us. He seemed to be angry with Brittney. "What if we were to refuse your offer to join?" He asked with a pointed finger. Very dramatic. Brittney shrugged, "Nothing. I said it before, you all can choose. If you choose not to become a member of the reserve force, you can leave here now and never come back."  
Messy hair didn't think a second, "In that case, I guess I'll pass, I still don't know exactly what's going on, but I'm a pacifist by nature."  
Brittney didn't even nod. "I see. Bye then, take care."

That took the wind out of Messy hair, "That's it?!" He stopped on the way out and turned around, "You're as cold as Haruhiro! But hold on a sec, if I were to leave now, what should I do?"  
"You know him?" I asked Haru. The lad had a guilty look on his face, "Not really… we just talked a bit on the way here. Only a little bit." Ahh. I see. I should have paid some more attention to the surroundings. Talking about that, one of the voices did say I should be doing that. Just a lot happening at the same time, can't keep track of Brittany and all of the muttering crowd at the same time. Talking about that, Brittney just laughed, I think I missed something he said so I focused on the followup, " … member of Crimson Moon, you're free to go. As I said, if you decide to enlist as a trainee you'll receive ten silvers from me. That's enough to live on for the time being, I think."  
An older guy with silky hair to the side of us muttered, "Silvers… I forgot, money." He looked in his mid twenties, though I had a good first impression of him. Probably the serious type that reflects a lot on how to do things right.

Come to think of it, Brittney has been cudgeling us all on the head that we need that ten silver to survive for the moment. Checking my pockets I report being the proud owner of lint and crushed dreams. Seriously what was I expecting anyhow? I might as well be a murder hobo for hire at this point. Good thing they're hiring for that position. A glance around told me the same thought went through plenty of people's minds here. We're all broke and there's monsters outside. Camping doesn't seem like a fun time to me if I do the math. We need room and board and that usually costs money. Maybe not a lot of money come to think of it. The place looked low-budget, wooden floors and walls. Some sort of sleet metal on the roof to patch things up. A poster board on the side with paper adds here and there. Once more, filled with gibberish in that language I couldn't make heads or tails of. It's a wonder I can even talk with the locals around me come to think of it. If the town was the same, maybe room and board would be pretty cheap. I mean, there's nothing here that's not nailed down.

I forced back my attention to Brittney who had continued his conversation with Messy hair. "… available jobs are way more difficult than volunteer soldier. Even if someone were to hire you, your wages are so low you'll barely scratch out a living. You'll also start off as pretty much a slave-boy to your new master."  
This sounds like a scam. I think we've been scammed. Voices, did we get scammed? Looks like other people in the room were getting antsy about this too. While they continued talking to Brittney I turned my attention on former ninja-kid, Haru. "Hey, who else did you get to know?" I asked. A glance around the crowd told me only little. The tallest guy was at least six feet four inches, maybe more. He was also slightly fat. Hensforth, I shall call him the Giant. The shortest person was one of the girls, though all of the girls were short come to think of it. In comparison I was slightly taller than average. Good. I like lording over people.

Haru sheepishly shrugged. "The messy hair there is Ranta. He's… Ranta, yes I suppose that's all I know about him. And the man there is Manato" He said pointing at the older man to our left.  
Manato on his part seemed to pick up his name.  
"Introducing me already?" He says with a slight grin. His hands reached out, and I instinctively shook it. Then we both stopped, realizing how strange a gesture that was. Shaking hands… something from our memories too? Maybe a custom? Manato recovered faster than I did with a genuine chuckle, "Anyhow, what's your name? You've got me at a disadvantage here,"  
My answer was automatic. "It's SB. For the moment. I think it's my initials or something."

In the background I could hear Brittney addressing everyone. Manato and I turned our attention back, "… will all need to figure out what you'll do and where you'll go from here for yourselves, but it would be wise to make your first priority the purchase of your Crimson Moon contracts."  
"Fine then," That Renji fellow said while picking up something from Brittney's side. "Reserve force trainee or whatever, I'll do it and go from there."

Manato shrugged to my side, "Looks like things are wrapping up here SB." He and a small crowd of others walked over to the table to grab their badges and silver. On the other hand, I noticed Haruhiro, Ranta, the Giant and three of the girls looked like they were still mulling over their options. I must have been standing close enough to this group because Brittney's eye turned our way and he addressed me, "And what about all of you?" Ranta muttered while darkly stalking over to Brittney's counter, "I get a nagging feeling I'm walking into some sort of trap." No shit. Didn't I say we were getting scammed here?  
"Where there's a will-a-will, there's way-a-way and where there's no will-a-will there's no way-a-way…" One of the girls seemed to have made up her mind, and followed Ranta.  
"That's not the saying," I say at the same time that Haru voices out, "Um, I don't think we say 'will-a-will or way-a-way…" We turned to each other. Great minds think alike?  
"That so?" The girl answers. She's got a twin-braid going on, so from now on I shall call her twin-tail.  
"That's the way Yume remembers it though."  
Did she refer to herself in third person? She did, didn't she? That's weird... Is it?  
"Isn't it, 'Where there's a will, there's a way' right?" I ask. Haru nods, "That's how I heard it."  
She frowned at that. "Oh, I see. But isn't will-a-will and way-a-way so much cuter? Yume thinks cute is important too~yan."  
Oh, now I see why she refered to herself in third person. Mystery solved. She's a ditz. Wait! She's not blond enough to be a ditz! Sacrilege! But for now, I'll call her Yume too. Twin-braid was a mouthful anyhow.  
"…I guess that does raise your cuteness a few notches." Haru looks embarrassed at his answer while I seethe at things not being perfectly right. Wait - embarassed look? Shifty gaze? Haru, is that a romance subplot I smell? I grinned without meaning too.  
"Yep!" Yume giggled with genuine happiness, oblivious to everything.

And now that I realize it, while we've been discussing everything it looks like everyone's already gone up to the counter and grabbed their badge and money. Even the giant had shyly past us on the way to the counter to grab his goodies. Or on closer look, a red leather pouch and badge. I assume the pouches hold the money. The counter is littered with them, Brittney probably didn't count to see how many our group brought with us. Haru also realized the same thing and seemed to make up his mind with his first step planted firmly in the direction of the counter. Guess that's that then.  
A look back to the crowd and even Mrs. Shy had her hands on a pouch and badge. Come to think of it, I never got to talk to her yet either. Wasn't she the second person I was supposed to get to know?

How'd I get so sidetracked anyhow?


	2. Chapter 2

Sidetracked or not, the buzz in the background became audible again. _"_ _Go get the badge and pouch,"_ It whispered. _"_ _Try and haggle for info… rates… learn language."_ Somehow I got a feeling about what it wanted, not in words, but more like instant understanding. _"_ _Take another pouch,"_ Well, I can't see how that would backfire on me. Money is good right? More money is better. Voices had a good plan here.

Haru had already walked over and grabbed his items without fuss, being the last person to make up their mind I walked with deliberate purpose. Brittney watched me come with vague interest. People like compliments right? Should be good enough to start with. "Hey Brittney, in case I don't see you again," I mentioned to him – or rather her – "But I like the lipstick. The girls should get some tips from you." Strictly true that one, lipstick did make the outfit. Without it, wouldn't be as striking. Brittney's eyes glanced over to me, "Buttering me up for something kitten? Well, flattery gets you everywhere with me. What is it you want?" Her voice dropped a bit at that last part. She's on me.

"Honest compliment ma'am. But hey, if you have any general advice on what's the value of silver or how to read the language, I'd be thankful." I said. Brittney didn't react much and her smile remained fixed, but I could swear I saw her mouth twitch upwards slightly when I called her ma'am.  
Behind me I could hear some commotion and general chatter. I don't think anyone was looking at us too hard at the moment, maybe they were discussing among each other on where to go next?  
"General advice hmm," Brittney folded her hands together and leaned closer. "You're not quite my type you know, you should decide if you want to tone those muscles or work on other parts of yourself instead. No one likes someone indecisively in the middle~" A slight smile made me think she was telling a bit more than just superficial things. Fine by me. "Thanks for the tip. I think I'll have plenty of time to decide, not sure what else I'll be doing. Might drop by and bug you sometime."

"Only if you know what you're getting into my dear. I suppose I can also fill you in on some minor details." She opened a pouch, taking out a silver piece. "One silver is 100 capas. You'll want to visit Yorozu's to get an exchange for capas and store the rest, no one uses silver for day to day expenses. 15 capas pays for a day's rent, though I doubt you'll find a fair price here. 2 to 4 capas is a cheap to decent meal. Don't keep too much money on you at any time. Quite a lot of people here enjoy… easy prey. Trainees are spotted easily because of your odd clothing. Ditch it. Wear something nice instead. Or avoid any shortcuts that lead off the main streets for now." Her eyes roved over my sweatshirt. Makes sense to me. "It sounds like we're not the first trainees to come by here, or the last. Do these waves of people come often?" I asked.  
She looked me over with a critical eye as if seeing something new, "Maybe building muscles is a waste of potential for you my dear… Every few months, new blood moon trainees arrive to this world. I recruit them and shuffle them forward. Most, I don't see again. You all have strange manners, odd clothing, and tend to say words that make no sense. All of you speak common but can't write it or read it."

Right, talking about that, "Any recommendations on how I could learn to read fast?" I asked.  
She turned to the poster board. "Go and grab the bottom left one." So I did, it was posted and held by only one nail. Ripping it off the board was simple. I couldn't make heads or tails out of it, but it had a paragraph, and underneath it a small list of points. Handwritten too.  
"That my dear is a recruitment poster, by a priest who's looking for a group. Poor dear can't seem to stay in any group for more than a week. Grab a pen, I'll dictate to you what's written and you'll write it down in your own language. After that, it's up to you to decipher what letter means what." I did as asked, grabbing a feather with ink and began to scribble things on the bottom as she dictates. The paragraph was short, explaining the priest's situation and the list turned out to be abilities or skills they possessed, along with what they expected to receive as compensation – which wasn't bad either, just a fair share of the loot. It felt just like an RPG, with the priest as a healer looking for group heh.

Wait. What's an RPG? Why do I think the priest is the healer? Halfway through I realize I had no idea how I could write either. It just felt natural. The letter formed up and I understood them. A, E, I, O, and so forth. The grammar didn't match how I talked though oddly enough. I'd put nouns in weird ordering compared to verbs, adjectives weren't in the right place, entire words felt like they were missing or had no analog to what I heard. I think I was left with more questions then answers on my own writing then the parchment's.  
"You should learn how to read and write, though I've heard it's easy enough for your folks. You appear in this world all speaking common, but each of you writes -  
 _"_ _So just wondering you said he can hear us-"_  
"-it differently. One man even wrote vertically rather than horizontally. Another-"  
 _"_ _in his head so we could interact with him and say things like your doom or something-"_  
"-girl wrote backwards, from right to left. Sometimes the things you scribble look nothing alike either."

I turned around to my left. Everyone was a good distance away. I could swear there was someone behind me trying to tell me something. I frowned at that. They said something about doom right? I couldn't hear them over Brittney. Either way, it looked like no one had said anything, the group behind me were still discussing something. I shook my head and turned back to Brittney who had an unreadable glance. "Sorry," I said, "Thought I heard someone ta-"  
 _"_ _... wait is he listening now?... uh greetings"_  
I shut up midsentence. Then glanced behind me again. Once more no one was talking to me. Odd.  
 _"_ _... should i introduced myself i feel like i should..."_  
I swung hard to the left again, almost making a full circle around me – but still no one showed up around me. It was as if it was all in my hea- Oh. Yes, that _would_ explain it. Introduce yourself? _Who are you?!_ I thought hard, but no answer came after a few seconds.  
Realizing I looked insane, I turned back on Brittney with a fake grin. "Errr, sorry about that." Her eyebrow twitched up, but she seemed completely undisturbed. "I've seen stranger kitten. Now then, you had better go make friends. Looks like a fight's started behind you, and being alone in this world is an easy way to disappear. Forever. I'm sure you can handle the rest yourself."  
Indeed there was a fight going on behind me. Looks like Renji was beating the living shit out of someone with a buzz cut. I didn't pry hard seeing an opportunity.

"Damn, that looks nasty!" I commented, pointing at how Renji had grabbed Buzz-cut's head and slamed his own forehead into the guy's nose. With my attention focused on the fight, Bri naturally followed my gaze. My other hand snatched blindly for a pouch and I swatted it off the counter. It dropped on the floor with a bit of a jingle but nothing too noticeable over the din. Bri didn't seem to have noticed thankfully. Success!  
"Guess I should go over and see what's going on with the family here." I muttered, turning around and grabbing a pouch along with the badge.  
"Thank you for the information, and the notice. I really appreciate it Bri. I'll see you around." Then I (intentionally) fumbled with the pouch and it fell on the floor. Sheepishly, I scratched my head and bent down to grab both the dropped pouch, and the other one I'd swatted off the counter earlier. That one I stuffed down my pockets. Standing back up, nothing looked off mark.

I love it when I win.

Behind me, the fight was over already. Renji had won hands down, but apparently defeat equals friendship. I caught the tail end of their conversation. "Ron," The buzzcut guy said, "You're strong, you bastard."  
"You're pretty tough yourself. Join me Ron." Renji said with no trace of gloating. He was serious.  
"Ahh, for now then." The buzzcut man said.  
"That's good enough. Who else…" Renji mutters with a glance around the room. His eyes sweep past me and a few others. "You look like you can fight. Come with me." He points out someone with glasses. That one just nods. "Fine. I'm Adachi. Good to be on board, Renji." That wasn't the end of it.  
"You, runt." He picked out another target – this time the smallest girl in the room. She straight up squeaked at his decision. "Ay?"  
"Come." He said, and she did exactly that, taking a spot next to Glasses boy. He patted her on the head like a pet, "You seem like you'll be useful. Follow." This guy is a straight up charmer isn't he? Renji looked like he was done then, "We're leaving," he said with a turn on his heels. Again, circus wasn't over yet.  
"Wait! Take me with you!" A girl to the side jumped up and leapt on Renji's side.  
"I don't need anyone I can't use." Renji just sighed out.  
"I'll do anything," she said, clinging to him. "I'm Sassa. Please, I'll do anything you ask. Anything."  
"Anything, eh?" That got his attention. He shoved her to the side and stared her down. "Never forget those words."  
"I won't." She gulped out.  
"And don't touch me without permission." Renji continued.  
"I… understand."  
"Good. Come then."  
"Thank you, Renji!"  
Sassa quickly ran to the door and opened it for her group. As they filed out, Sassa left last. I suppose when you're desperate, you're desperate. I get a feeling Renji's 'team' would do good enough. When the door closed behind them, only us seven were left.

 _"_ _Warn them of being easy prey to scams and inform them of basic things,"_ Someone to my side whispered. _"Talk to them."_ Another person behind me insisted. I turned to my left to check out who's the duo sneaking up on me - except instead of two mysterious persons there was no one behind me at all. Surprise. Well, the voice wasn't _wrong_ either. For some reason I felt rather protective of the leftovers here after Renji had disappeared with anyone remotely competent. It's us against the world you know? Gotta stick together. Besides. No one had any idea what to do – except for me since I got some info out of my bestie Bri. Got to share the love right? Manato seemed to have the same thoughts, since he came right up to me. "Noticed you were talking to the chief. Learn anything good SB?"  
"This and that. One silver is a hundred cappas which I guess is the real money that's used day to day, and the rate…" I told him the rest of what I knew. Including the possible scams.

"Might be a problem. You're right, we make easy targets. I could see a lot of people out there willing and ready to take advantage of newcomers that don't know the lay of the land."  
"We should… umm… stick together for now?" A rather sheepish Haru had drifted towards us. The others had gotten silent while Manato and I discussed options. I get a feeling they overheard everything. The looks on their faces told me they saw Manato and I as their last chance. _"Can he find anything reflective I am really curious what he look like."_  
I heard that tell-tell whisper to my left and suppressed the urge to look behind me. Who's 'he' anyhow? Where the voices gossiping to each other or something? For some reason that thought almost made me break out laughing, which would have definitely pegged me as the group weirdo.

And come to think of it, I don't even _know_ how **I** look like. It's not like I have a mirror anywhere to check on my makeup and trim my luscious locks of hair. I'll have to look around for a puddle maybe? A quick pat of my hand on my hair told me I had medium length straight-ish hair. I looked pretty average weight wise, neither skinny nor fat and testing through my sweatshirt I didn't detect any beer gut either thankfully. And for now until I find a mirror, I'll just assume I'm literally the most handsome man on the face of this world.  
Train of thoughts was interrupted then when someone burst into the office. The man seemed older than Haruhiro and even Manato. He had a full leather suit – and not the kinky type - and on his head was some sort of feathered cap which didn't hide his fox-like eyes and crooked mouth. A bow and quiver hung behind his back comfortably and he wore them with practiced ease. He looked like a veteran. And like trouble.

"G'afternoon, Commander." He barked out.  
"My my," Bri turned to the man. "If it isn't Raghill. What happened? Is there something you need from me?"  
"No, nothing from _you_ ," Raghill said, glancing at Haruhiro and the rest of us. "I heard that a new group just arrived." Now, if I was a paranoid man, I'd say he looked at us like a wolf would look at a lamb.  
"Word sure travels fast. We only got thirteen this time and only seven are still here." Bri stated, wiping dirt off her nails.  
"The dregs, huh?"  
Ranta's expression became stony. "And that's a bad thing?"  
"What else could it be but bad?" Raghill said glaring at Ranta before turning his gaze over us again, sizing us up probably. "Hmph. Our group's missing a tank, so you there, big guy. You'll do."  
The giant pointed to himself. "…Me?"  
"Yes, you. Who else here is big and a guy? We'll let you join our party and teach you the ropes. As for money, we'll even loan you some. It's an amazing offer. If you're smart, you'll take me up on it."  
"Ah, okay…" The giant answered back sheepishly.  
"Seriously, Mogzo? You're going to go with him?" Ranta grabbed the man's left arm. "Don't do it. It's obvious he can't be trusted…" His name is Mogzo? OK. File that in with the rest of the names.

I agreed with the messy haired brat, this guy smelled like a scam. Then again, everything in this world smells like a scam to me. Maybe I'm paranoid on top of schizophrenic? Naw, it's not being paranoid if they're all out to get my money and poach my future teammates.  
"Bri warned me about us new guys making easy targets to pick on. I wouldn't trust this guy." I said to the giant, Mogzo. Arms crossed, I probably looked pretty imposing!  
"Ah, right…"

Leather armor didn't like that.  
"I'm not untrustworthy!" His hand shot out and grabbed Mogzo's other arm. "Forget about those two and just come with me!" Then he yanked, hard. "It's unheard of for a trainee to get an invitation into a party. You should be thankful!"  
"Uh, okay…" Mogzo said with a completely distressed face. Lad had no idea what to do or who to listen to. "Don't let him fool you, Mogzo! Untrustworthy bastards will never say that they're untrustworthy!" Ranta scrambled after and tried to yank Mogzo backwards. I moved up to Raghill to pull him off, "Now wait just a sec-" but he straight up glared at me through that feather cap. Like – _GLARED_ at me. I froze in my tracks.

This is the sort of look you give to a fly that's annoyed you for the last time. Sorry Mogzo, I choose life.  
"Uh, um… ow… that hurts…"  
Ranta let go of the giant's arm at that. "Oh, sorry, sorry." And with no obstruction, Raghill went on the offensive.  
"Let's go!" He yanked with all his strength and dragged Mogzo out before I could think to object further. The door slammed shut and we were down one. It was quiet for a moment. I had a sinking feeling I might not see giant man again.

Mrs. Shy's shoulders slumped. "…He's gone." She whispered. Shit. I should have done more. Am I actually a coward of some sorts? This is not a good trait for an up-and-coming murder hobo.  
"That leaves…" Yume counted us all now, pointing to each in order. One, two, three, four, five, six; Haruhiro, Ranta, yours truly, Manato, Mrs. Shy. And finally, herself. "The six of us."  
"Just how long," Bri said, stifling a yawn, "do you all plan on being here? I'm a busy person and I've got work to do. If you're just going to stand there, I'm going to throw you out."  
Ranta looked like a dog with its tail between its legs and turned to all of us. "Let's go?"  
"Yeah," Haru replied, looking just as pathetic and defeated. Manato looked like someone had kicked his favorite dog too.

 _"Congratulations on finishing the introduction cut-scene, with bonus tutorial to boot! Nice job!"_ Someone to my left said happily.  
"Why thanks," I replied coldly. "I try so ha-" and froze mid-sentence, turning around and noticing there wasn't anyone talking to me at all. Oh god, not again. I caught the last one! How did this one get past?! It's going to be a problem keeping track of who's real and who's not. The voice had zero reservations on waiting for a better time. Not to mention it _sounded_ different from the previous voice. Are they multiplying?!  
"Something up?" Manato asked.  
 _"Well, first thing: for now, hold off on making or joining a party. Politely disengage from the group and go to town. Time for a bit of exploration!"_ The voice cheerfully whispers and no amount of plugging my ears seems to make it stop. But… it did make a point about going outside exploring. That suddenly seemed really attractive for some reason. Getting back with Manato and the mini-gang didn't seem like it'd be difficult either come to think of it. How big could the town be? I'll just tell them politely we'll meet up by this office sometime tomorrow?  
"Ahh, just thought of something. Don't mind me." I replied to Manato half-halfheartedly.

 _"Brittney did give you some good advice; for now, stick to the main roads which should also let you find the main attractions, like the bank. Store all your money except for maybe 200 coppers. This will be your budget for food, new clothes that don't stick out, and rent for the day."_  
You know, at least the other voice almost _thought_ about introducing itself! Have some shame! The rest seemed like pretty good ideas all things considered, maybe I shouldn't be complaini-  
 _"Now what to look out for when exploring: to survive, you will really want a job; these are things like Warrior, Priest, Magician, Thief, and whatnot. Not sure if there is one, but try to find a job that specializes in unarmed combat. In the case there isn't, then try to find a job that uses a staff/spear/pole arm for physical attacks; nice reach, easy to pick up basics, and finding something that can act as a long staff is much easier than finding a spare sword usually."_

That's…. pretty fucking handy to be honest. It's like I'm getting the straight up cheat sheet to the world. You know what, having voices in your head, not so bad so far. Solid 7/10, would recommend. A lot better than it whispering that everyone hates me and I should murder them in their sleep. I'll take helpful voices over demonic ones any day of the week. But how does it know about these job professions anyhow? Isn't it a figment of my imagination? The voice on its part just steamrolled through my last thought, _"As cool as magic is, its performance can be inconsistent, especially if/when you get to the different worlds."_ There's magic in this world? Oh hell yes! But the voice was pretty certain it sucked. Welp. That bites. _"Oh yeah, try to figure out how much getting training at a guild costs; shouldn't be more than 10 silver, but who knows?"_  
Wait – aren't you supposed to be the cheatsheet here?! Minus 20 points for unreliability!  
 _"...If jobs/guilds don't exist in this world then uh..."_ Then what?

All that came back was the mental version of a shrug.

 _"Learn either fist fighting or spearmanship from some teacher?"_  
Good point. There's got to be plenty of ways to learn how to fight around here. I mean we're supposed to be killing monsters around the city right? And wait a second – did you actually answer back to me?!  
 _"Bars are hubs of socialization; lets you network and find news. Important stuff."_ Gotcha. Visit the tavern. Make enemies and lose friends. Hit on the serving girls, get thrown out before doing anything important. Can do boss. **WAIT** you're distracting me here! You answered back just before, don't you dare change the subject!  
 _"Places that sell equipment/consumable items. You don't have too much of a budget for expensive stuff yet, but it's good to know your options."_

 _ **ARRG**_. Where's my pen and paper? I have paper, the recruitment poster for that priest… pen…. Pen… pen-pen-pen.  
 _"Food and inns - you need food and sleep, right?"_  
Give me a damn second to write all this down you damned slavedriver! I ditched the surprised group and ran back to Brittney's desk and borrowed the feather again with a nervous smile. She didn't seem phased at all and continue on her work around the area. Now I was prepared! Bring it voice!  
 _"This should be a nice task for now. More information will be later, probably when you retire to an inn for the night. Don't want to overload you now! Good luck! Remember, take it easy!"_ Wait, what? No no no no no, you don't suddenly decide to be super useful and then disappear the moment I'm about to start dragging answers out of you! Get back here punk!

…

But no answer came. I hurriedly scribbled on the parchment the list of things the voice had suggested. What was it again? Right – Get a job of some sorts, specifically something with hand to hand combat, or failing that find something with a spear since they're simple to use. Spear and shield maybe? Magic was bad, a pity. It then continued into the guilds and buying training from them. It seemed like guilds offered jobs? Is that how the system worked? Next up, find the tavern and see what I can discover there. Once the day's up, find room and board, preferably with no spiders for alarm clocks.

It strikes me then, this all came from _a voice in my head._ There's no logical reason any of this is valid info! But it's still worth following for now - If the voices were right about the guild, then that proves they **do** know something about this world that I don't. And they don't seem to be trying to get me killed – so time to be a good little minion for now. Should be easy enough to find convincing evidence outside of this office. I sit up from Bri's desk and walk back to my group. They had stayed behind to wait for me and were discussing something in between each other. I notice Manato was oddly absent.

Yume giggled at something. "So you have no idea either." She was taunting Ranta it looked like. On his part, the brat rubbed the bottom of his nose with his index. "Damn straight I don't."  
"Well, I'm going to go scout out the city some. See what I can discover. Got some info, but I'm not sure how accurate it is." I said walking up to the group.  
"Wait, you're just going to leave us like Manato?!" Ranta barked out at me. "Seriously?! I thought you were with us!"  
"What? Who said anything about leaving?" I rebutted. Manato left us? Odd, I didn't think of him that way. Or maybe he was planning on doing the same thing I was? "It's a small city looks like, we can cover more ground alone for now. We can meet up later and share what we've learned, how's that?"  
"In that case, go for it!" Ranta slapped me on the back like he's been my best friend since we got here. "Find out all about this city and what we're supposed to do! I'll leave it to you, S.B!"  
"How refreshingly original, making others do all the work." Haru seethed in the back. _Uh-oh_ , picking up on some hostility here.  
"Like a breath of fresh air!" Ranta followed up, but if it's a rebuttal or if he's seriously too dense to notice when he's been insulted, I couldn't really tell.  
"You really piss me off." Haru makes it clear now.  
"To be totally blunt and honest, I don't really care about your feelings."  
"Asshole."  
"Shut up. I didn't ask you do to anything, SB's the one that's actually doing things! What are _you_ doing for the group Haru? Nothing!"  
"What about you?!"  
"Fine! Let's split the work then. Haruhiro, your job's to go find a Crimson Moon member and get information, Shihoru's job is to be all depressed, Yume's job is to make her feel better, SB goes out and finds out everything else, and my job's to stay here and wait for you all to come back!"

And while they're arguing I'm thinking about the oddest thing - I need to get a better name then SB. Everyone's names are so weird, but I can't really tell why. Sebastian maybe – that's what SB might stand for right? No? That name doesn't sound like anyone else's here. Why is that? Ranta. Yume. Haru. Manato. None of these names sound normal to me for some reason. I put it out of my head.  
"I take it Shihoru is the girl behind Yume?" I ask, changing the topic quickly before the group self-destructs. Mrs. Shy finally has a name! On her part she nodded but slunk further behind Yume.  
"Right. Well the sun is coming up, and I've got a list of things to do." I said, pointing at the parchment held in my hand. "Organize yourselves however you want, I think we'll be fine in the long run. Don't worry, we've got enough money to live on for now and we've got each other. Not to say we should take things lightly, but let's not worry about what we can't change."

Haru seemed to pick up on that. Yume only nodded fiercely.  
"Yea exactly! See, I knew you'd understand my master plan! I'm world famous for making plans like that." Ranta grinned. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Any other day he'd piss me off, but I had a mission on my mind right now – Getting shit done in town. "See you all around, got to make the most of the day. Let's see how this goes yea?"  
And with that, I left the group behind, walking down the road to the city walls. Along the way the first voice showed up again. The original one – this one I could already tell without a check. Seems like the more they talk, the more I get used to them and the easier it is to tell them apart from real people. _"Maybe buy a pen and either journal or parchments that you can sew together to write on it. Best to have notes just in case you miss something. Maybe sell the notes to the next batch."_ _Ohohoho_. Industrious this one was. Catalog everything I do, then when the next batch of rookies show up, sell them copies of SB's patented 'Don't panic – Survival startup kit.' I can already count the money I'll make. _Eheheheheh_.

The sun had just risen over the mountains when I finally made it to the city proper. Inside, I found the town had started early. People and merchants flocked the streets. It felt like a huge town, but I could see how the alleyways were deserted. Likely everyone around these main streets were a good half of the entire town. Second thing I noticed – I stood out like a sore thumb. Everyone took glances at me and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself it was all due to my rugged good looks, I knew Bri's advice was solid. Fresh blood like me was just waiting to get ripped of all that silver I was sure to have.

Third and more sobering thing I noticed: The homeless few. They sat in the alleyways, close enough to the light to be safe, but far back in the recesses of the dark to avoid people's attention. They all looked like failed adventurers, cradling whatever weapon they had and nursing a vague stare. I got the feeling they came from the same place I did and if I got in the wrong part of town – they'd be the ones to attack me instead of the locals. I hope I don't end up in their shoes in a few months.

First thing's first! Bank then clothing. I stopped by the first vender stall I could find selling hand-me-down cloaks since I ran across it first. They were as big as blankets, sturdy, and were meant to be draped over armor and everything. Looks versatile enough. Could even serve as a makeshift bedding if I had to camp out.  
"How much for this?" I asked the shop owner, an old man that looked around his late forties. "That's 35 capas lad." He answered with a glint in his eyes that made me suspect it was worth a lot less than that.  
"It's a little out of my budget, think you can lower the price a bit?"  
"If you can't buy it, someone else will. Sorry lad, I need to run a business here, not a charity." Tsh. I failed.  
"Right, do you know the way to the bank?" Wasn't getting anything out of him anytime soon, but I might as well get information.  
"Hmmm, down the main street, take the second left main road. Should spot it easily, it'll be the only building fully made out of stone."  
"Thanks. By the way, what do you know about the guilds?"  
"There's a guild for everything lad, even this clothing shop is part of the textile guild. If you're not part of a guild, you're not going to get far. I take it you haven't picked a job yet?"  
"Eh, nope. I just heard something about guilds and wanted to ask." Damn voices were right.  
"Well, I don't know much about the combat guilds, so you'll have to ask other people about them. But if you want to know more about the merchant guild or the textile guild, I'm your man!"  
"Thanks for the offer, would the bank representatives know more about the guilds?"  
"Certainly. Yorozu's are well connected with all the guilds, and they deal with the Crimson Moon folks much more often than I do. They're very fair to everyone lad, just don't get on their bad side."  
"I'll do my best." I'm a charming individual right? This should not be a problem. "I'll come by later for that cloak later, maybe."  
"Don't take too long, else it might just be gone when you get back." That smile on his face was like someone that knew they had you in checkmate and were just waiting for you to notice.

But I digress. On we went! Down the road, I ran into two different shops that got my attention. One was selling a pretty good breakfast at the reasonable price of 3 capas. Ran by a rather young man who seemed genuinely happy at feeding his few customers. I made a mental note to keep this spot in mind. The second shop that got my attention was a jewelry shop. Not for the reason you're thinking of though. I stumbled into it because the store owners _yanked_ me into their shop. I thought I was going to get mugged in broad daylight not even two hours in but it turned out fine: "If you find gems or the like while out exploring, come by and sell it to us! We'll give you a better price then the other stores around the area." Shop owners were a couple, and the place was tiny comparatively.  
"Uhh, sure. No promises though." I answered non-committedly.  
"We do better artifacts then other stores too, we'll give you a discount on it. As an adventurer, having magic items is critical to your success."  
 _Oh ho ho._  
"Magic items eh? Show me some of these items first, I'm new and this sounds like something I should know about." I asked. The woman puffed herself up she seemed happy to show me. The man wordlessly went in the back to reach for items in their stock. I was shuffled around to sit down by their counter and she put down a few items returned by the husband.  
"This is a solid stone Safire, if it's cut right, it'll make you slightly tougher and more enduring." She said, pointing to a simple necklace. She didn't stop there, and pointed to the next trinket, an earing. "This one is an emerald, and it'll make your reflex faster. Closer it is to the mind, the better it works. Earrings or headdresses are the usual for those. See, the power is all in the gem and inscriptions on the metal. That's how you know its quality. See how the lines are detailed and clean?"  
And while it was true that there were small inscriptions on each trinket she showed me in turn, I didn't really feel anything picking them up. No _flooosh_ of power, or anything. She showed me twelve others, doing anything from healing wounds faster to making you less hungry in general. (Popular with the village girls, she claimed)  
"How much is the stamina jem?" I asked out of curiosity, "It costs 2 silver, 50 capas for all minor jems, but we'll knock off 50 capas from the price if you make the deal with us."  
Well. This world was unfair. That's three week's worth of food and lodging for a tiny necklace! Can't buy the good shit when you're unemployed. I wonder how much even getting a hand-me-down stabbing stick would cost.  
"Right right. I'll talk with my group." I muttered turning around and catching sight on someone else across the window wearing the same favorite sweatshirt I had.

Another trainee maybe? He certainly looked like a jaded assho - oh wait that's just me. That's no window, it's a mirror! And there goes my suspicions on being the world's most handsome man. Well, might not have the face but I've got the winning personality right? I said my goodbyes and made my way to the bank without further distractions. Considering I managed to swipe a second bag out of Bri's, I had a total of 20 silver on me. That means I could afford those trinkets if I wanted one. I didn't get a sense of them being con artists, the woman seemed genuinely proud of the gems and showed off exactly how they were cut and inscribed. The man did the cutting, and she did the inscriptions. The shop was rather small, so I suppose they were new to the scene too. Having regular suppliers and customers was a solid first step. If they were trying to swindle me, then I wouldn't supply or buy at their shop after the first trade. Food for thought. The voices were oddly silent right now. In fact, I haven't heard a peep from them yet for the last two hours. Maybe being around this many people makes them shy? And while it was nice to be alone, the voices weren't all that bad considering. They did give me advice that so far has proved true.

And then I reached the bank after a bit of stumbling around. And damn did it look like a rich place. There was a sign with gold embossed, and inside proved just as well built. A spacious hallway that ended to a stone counter at the end. There was a line there, if you could call three people a line. And surprisingly I met Haru there too. He was just about finished with the bank teller and walking away with his tail stuck firmly under his legs in defeat. Uh oh.  
"Hey Haru, hold on a second." I called out to him.  
He turned and smiled a bit on seeing me.  
"What happened at the bank?"  
"Umm… she doesn't forget anything."  
"You're talking cryptically here, I don't understand."  
"I ... I stared at her face a bit too long and she now thinks I have no manners. And she doesn't forget anything. She memorizes numbers and details and knows everything by heart."  
That was…. Well, that was certainly something.  
"Going to guess this is the bank teller? I'm up after these two," –"Next!" – "I mean I'm up after this guy. Anything I should know?"  
Haru nodded. "There's a 1% deposited fee on whatever you put in. Uh, don't try and game the system, she remembers fractions of capas. There's a 2% deposit fee on items, and they get their people to appraise the item for its value."  
Oh. That could be handy. It's almost a free appraisal for anything we find! I might be visiting the bank more often just for that service. If I ever get my greedy mitts on something exotic at least.  
"Nice one Haru, thanks for the heads up!" I flash him a thumbs up. Seems to bring his mood up a bit. "Got any other advice?"

"Next!" The man in front of me walked forward and now I was about to be called.  
"No, nothing else I can remember. She seems to have a really difficult job though, remembering everyone like that. Oh! You have to create an account first before you can store your money."  
I nodded. "Good. As for her job, I think she has help from magic. I saw a trinket vendor earlier and one of the gems they had supposedly let people remember a lot more things than usual."  
"Ohhhhh that makes sense... There's magic in this world?" Haru asked, but before I could answer, I was called up to the teller. "I'll tell you later Haru, go look around some more yea?" He nodded at that and left.

Time to see what the hubbub was all about. I walked up to the famous teller telling myself I wouldn't stare. It turned out to be pretty difficult. It was a little girl. She sat on a large leather chair that did everything to make her seem even tinier. That's not to say she wasn't regal looking. She looked composed, dressed smartly in white clothing with gold highlights. Accessory wise she had a monocle and a golden pipe in one hand. From talking to the trinkets vendor, magic items that affected your mind had to be close by your head. The monocle was the obvious contender. So that's what let her memorize anything, maybe? At the very least the entire setup screamed _don't fuck with me, I know what I'm doing._  
"Hello, I'd like to register a new account." I asked politely. She frowned slightly, as if expecting something different from me.  
"Name?" She barked.  
"S.B."  
"I take it you're also a crimson moon trainee?"  
"Yes, I am. Just arrived." And now the thought that I had an extra ten silver passed through my mind. I could _not_ deposit that yet. She dealt with trainees on a constant basis, so she _knows_ I should have only ten silver to my name – not twenty. And she doesn't forget either apparently. That snatched up ten silver is going to remain right in my pocket for now until I could deposit it little by little without triggering any suspicions.

While I was thinking all this, the girl had already finished writing down my name on a few different rosters. "I'm Yorozu. Fourth generation. I flawlessly memorize the first and last names, facial appearance, deposits and balances, and all transaction records of all clients. However, I also keep paper records for the sake of those whose memories aren't as perfect as mine. Your account is set up, you may now do business with Yorozu's bank." The speech seemed well practiced. Considering she had flawless memory that might just be the standard go-to discussion for anyone that's a trainee.

"Thanks for the introduction Yorozu." Do all the tellers have the same name as the bank? She said she was 4th generation, so maybe Yorozu is a title? I put those thoughts aside, one thing at a time.

"I'd like to deposit eight silver and convert two silver to capas please."  
"Deposits will cost a 1% fee, so for 8 silvers that will be eight capas. Do not try to play the system, I can perfectly calculate fractions of capas and I will keep track of exactly how much you owe. Conversions on the other hand do not cost anything. Do you understand?"  
"Yes." I said, taking out one of my pouches and pouring out all ten silver pieces. Time to find out what those capas actually looked like.  
"You're not the first to decide on carrying two silver's worth of capas around on the first visit here. That said, do you realize how cumbersome it is to carry two hundred capas around?"  
"Yes I do." No I don't. But I was on a mission.  
She looked me for a moment, shrugged, and began the process of getting two hundred copper coins out. It took her less than five minutes, but once she made a point to do so openly so I could follow through. It was two hundred capas and not a single capa miscounted.  
"Say, what do you know about the combat guilds?" I asked while she counted out the money.  
"Each guild here teaches specialized techniques to fight with. Learning one fighting style is exclusive of others, not to mention teaching anyone outside your guild what you've learned would cause your guild and all other guilds to blacklist you. In town there are five main guilds," She licked her lips, preparing the speech.

"Warrior's guild teaches front line combatants. Thieves guild teaches support, scouting, and utility fighters. Mage's guild teaches magic which could be anywhere from long ranged damage support to short range utility support. Jack of all trades really, but wearing any armor hinders spellcasting so universally not durable. Dread Knight's, also known as dark knights, death knights, shadow knights, and so forth depending on who you speak to, teaches a mid-range melee combatant who get stronger as they personally kill living beings. They also offer utility and damage in their demonic magic, but it's chaotic at at their demon's whims. Joining that guild is more akin to joining a cult just so you know - there's no backing out of it."  
Death knights? Sounds ominous. But hey, I already hear voices in my head so I might just be cut out to be a homicidal cultist bent on killing everything for power.

"The hunters guild teaches combatants on ranged combat, with minor techniques for close range fighting. They also serve as scouts and utility in terms of hunting food for the group, general survival techniques, and so forth. They're unique in that with enough money a hunter can purchase a baby pet beast for a gold along with details on training that familiar into a combat asset. Or purchase just the training and the hunter can attempt to find their own baby beast out in the wilds. Finally, there's the priests guild, which teaches magic as well but with a far greater view on support and specifically - healing. You will absolutely need a priest for your group."

Maybe I should be a priest? There was that recruitment poster about the priest, and now that I think about it Brittney had asked me to pick this one up specifically out of all of the posters. Did she actually point me in that direction to help me out? I had a much better impression on Brittney.

"One last thing about guilds." The little girl said, almost reaching two hundred capas. "They teach the basics. Later on you will have to decide to specialize, to which you'll be moved into a subguild. For example priests can train to be arch-priests, or paladins. But not both. That's not all the examples from that particular guild. Go buy a book on that once you know how to read. Signing up to any of these 5 guilds will cost you 8 silver and a week's worth of training."  
Ahh. The eight silver I just deposited in the bank you mean? Why, thank you for telling me ahead of time I'd have to pull them out again. But I still have the ten pilfered silver, so that should do well in paying the costs.  
"Good luck, and here's your coins." She shoved the stacks my direction, "Any further buissness?"  
"Which of these guilds would teach me to use a spear and shield?"  
"Hunters guild has a subclass known as a dragoon, they use spears exclusively without a shield. Warriors guild will teach you to use any number of weapons, including a spear, without requiring a specialization, but they do offer a lancer specialization who also uses spears exclusively. Both lancer and dragoons have different combat styles, despite using the same weapon. Is there anything else?"  
"How about unarmed?"  
She took a double take on me. Then thought hard.  
"Shaman possibly. The thieves guild may have skillsets that are used without a blade. A monk guild exists as well, but they are not a combat guild."

Ah! The voice had told me to look for that.  
"Can you tell me more about that guild?"  
She scoffed, but did as asked. "Monks took an oath to never touch a weapon due to their religious choices, thus their only defense is their hands and feet. They did learn how to fight unarmed, it was a stop-gap measure to offer themselves a chance at surviving a raid long enough to run, in addition it serves as a meditation practice. It's efficient against an unarmed human opponent so any tavern brawl will be dominated by a monk, but ineffective against an armed opponent of course. They avoid combat at all costs otherwise as is their creed. Does that answer all your questions, or do you have more?"  
"No, I think I'm good. Thank you for the information."  
"Gladly. The bank thanks you and wishes for further business with you, Mr. SB. Have a good day. Next!"

I opened my leather pouch and shoved the copper coins into it. All in all, it was pretty full and weight a good two pounds or so. Heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle. I made sure to stuff a good 40 capas in my pants for easy use, while the rest would go in a more permanent spot.  
Considering how much money it was, I decided I'd do like squirrels do and stuffed it down my sweatshirt using the rope to tie it around my neck. Did it look stupid? Yes. Don't judge me, I have no other good ideas on how to hide and keep this all safe. Very uncomfortable to have two pounds pulling down on your neck with every step, but no chance of anyone swiping it from me with an accidental bump. And if you don't think that's a good plan, well too bad.

…

…

No voices answered. Are they on holiday retreat?  
And like poking a wasps nest, they suddenly appeared on cue.


	3. Chapter 3 - Death takes it's first

_"_ _No, we just got annoyed being compared to demons ..."_

So, that's a definite no for the holiday retreat idea. Demonic pes-  
" _We can be_ _much_ _worse if we want to."_ Good heavens, did I say demonic? I mean **very** friendly and _completely_ welcome teammates! Yep. You, a demonic pest? Parish the thought!  
Seemingly satisfied, the voice to my left continued then explained in detail how checking into a merchant guild or chef specialization for discounts and other goodies might be worth its salt. And pepper. Hah! I slay me.  
 _"_ _Yo yo! We're back!"  
_  
 **ACK!** I physically flinched, Where did you come from?!  
 _  
"I'm gonna preempt the other guy and just say that Merchants and Crafters technically can fight, but probably don't have much special combat skills compared to actual combat jobs."_ Shoo! I don't have a pen on me this time around! _"_ _I'll be honest, I have a decent amount of knowledge on the world the place you are in is based on..."_

You do? **WAIT** , I'm kidding about sending you away, I swear! Come back! You're (arguably) a little (Just a little) useful and I'm not just saying that because you're saving my ass or anything, d-d-don't get the wrong idea!

Thankfully the voice to my right came back after that. _"_ _But I'd rather try to limit making assumptions about things, yes?"_  
No! Tell me everything you know or else! But give me some time on the or-else part, I still need to figure that out.  
Jokes aside, they knew more about the world then I did, which makes no sense for straight up voices stuck in my head. If you know a lot about this world, mysterious voice B, how do I get back my memories from the past? Could these voices all be part of my missing memories? That would explain why they knew more things about this world then I should know.

But voice B didn't seem to hear my question. Sometimes I swear they were onto something, other times it was like they had no idea when they'd be heard or not. I digress: Both voices discussed among each other and ultimately a few things were planned out after a few minutes of listening. Details like finding out natural poisons in the world or how to break armor and the different ways to go about learning that. I got to say, the thought of lacing a spear with venom on the tip, lobbing it away and then just waiting for the target to die from a safe distance felt like a winning combo. Yes, I'm a total scumbag, we cleared that already right? And I'm not the only scumbag either! Get this – Voice B wanted me to check into unarmed combat not because it's some super-secret powerful class that no one ever noticed the true potential of. No no no, it's for a much better reason then that! It wanted to save money on the equipment and weapons expenditure.  
Cheap bastard! I don't get to use my hard earned metal when I'm dead! Moving on to the follow up list of things to do:

I'd buy myself a parchment and pen. A decent journal that's actually **made** to be written on instead of molesting that recruitment parchment with dirty pens left and right. It never signed up to be a lunatic's quick jot notes after all, poor thing must be traumatized. And also, more importantly, almost out of space to write on. Voice A had a point to make on that one. This time I'm writing all of this info down using the bank's pen, borrowed shamelessly of course. As soon as I heard voice B, I made a bee-line back into the bank. Fool me once, ect ect and so forth.

Buy clothing and first aid kits. A satchel to hold my coins and smuggle my silver into my boots – which was a really clever idea and I'm ashamed to say I didn't think of it at all. And while I loathed to sell my favorite sweatshirt, it **was** a cut above all the other clothing I've seen so far so it should fetch good coin. Practical. Very practical. Voice B might be the heavy hitter for overarching goals, but voice A had the life advice for daily survival. Considering calling them voice A and voice B was a mouthful, I'll settle for Alpha and Beta until they complain about it.

Sell recipes for pancakes and pudding rice. I have no idea what these things are, but for some reason my mouth waters at the sound. I think it was food from wherever I came from. If that's the case, they'd sell pretty well among the Crimson Moon members. Nostalgia in every bite. See, I already have the perfect slogan!

Find out the difference between a dragoon and a lancer.

On that note, I just walked right back into the bank and asked that very question. Yorozu wasn't pleased to see me back, but that didn't stop me. I have no shame.  
"Difference is in fighting style." She answered dryly. "As far as this Yorozu knows, Dragoons specialize in fighting while in the air. They're very strong at using their lance to leap into the enemy from above, or knock enemies skyborne where the dragoon is most comfortable delivering blows. Some say they have invisible wings but that's likely rubbish. Lancers tend to be either on foot or mounted and fight traditionally using reach. Keeping their opponents at bay and methodically hitting their weak points, or creating vulnerabilities and piercing armor joints. Much more tactical. It takes quite a lot more skill and agility to be a successful Dragoon then it would to be a Lancer but it takes a sharper mind to make the most out of a lancer. Satisfied?"  
"Mostly, one more thing – what's a shaman?"  
She tutted, annoyed I kept badgering her about all these questions. But there wasn't anyone in line at that particular time so demanded more answers.  
"This Yorozu has only met one thus far, a woman named Shima. You may know her as one of Souma's companions. An ex-thief who decided this job suited her more. I do not know more about them, other than being spiritualists of sorts. They have no books to read about, thus I know only second-hand knowledge of them."  
"Who's Souma?"  
She positively glared at me at that.  
"It can't be helped you wouldn't know them. They're famous as the strongest Crimson Moon members and are clan-less as well. Is that all? Yorozu has her own business to deal with, Mr. Clueless."

Why yes, it was. I get a feeling I've just been given a permanent name too. Back to the list

Actually learn to read was a big one. That one came with what felt like a metaphorical boot kick to my butt. I'm not a slacker I swear! Thought I am a strong proponent of sleeping in.

Find Mogzo, see how he's doing.

Find out more about shamans, and magic in general. To which, I completed half of that.

On that subject, Beta seemed to be somewhat of a connoisseur about the mystic voodoo juju this world called magic. _"_ _Magic is powered by gods/spirits/spooky things. Grimgal has at the very least the Dark and Light gods present, so priests and dark magicians can use their magic effectively. However, some worlds have never been touched by gods, or the gods left; therefore, the effects of magic may range from useless to reduced in those worlds."_ It said. Crossing worlds seemed to be a theme here. I'd always suspected that we're not from this world at all, and having Beta tell me that there are other world(s) out there only reinforces that suspicion. So who brought us here in the first place? Seems rather convenient to have a flock of fresh blood with no family and wiped memories show up every few months, just in time to replace anyone that's dead. I'm not saying it's a massive conspiracy…. But it's a massive conspiracy.

 _"_ _Well, that's how I know it, at least. Who knows how the world changed, eh?"_  
Suggesting the world isn't how you know it is another -20 points on reliability! Geeze, get it together Beta.  
 _"_ _Anyhow, it's looking like the best choice would be either Warrior (but the money...) or Hunter (Go melee, arrows are expensive) and specializing in pole weapons."_ With that Beta went quiet for a moment, thought I knew that'd change. All in all, why did a warrior have to get super expensive armor? Other melee classes like thieves probably wore leather or cloth and they're doing fine. Maybe spears would have a different attack pattern and range then the typical sword and board. As a hunter, I'd basically be doing this setup anyhow. Or maybe I'm being a cheap bastard again and that'll get me killed. Ahh choices. I'd have to mull this over with the group. Personally I'd rather just watch people kill things for me, preferably from the comforts of a fold out chair - but I suppose we can't _all_ be happy. Hunter seemed like a good choice too. Save my arrows for when we need more ranged firepower, and otherwise keep a good distance. Which is a _good_ thing.

I sat down on a rock in the road and pondered on my options. Beta came back then, _"_ _Anyways, with that out of the way, a short introduction!"_ Aren't you like, several hours late for that?! Beta steamrolled past that accusation and moved onto more important things. Meanwhile I took the opportunity to tuck all the pilfered silver coins into my boots while Beta ran his head off.  
 _"_ _Compared to Mr. A, I like to stick to safer choices. Ergo, more orthodox and conservative things, and a bit less trying to game the system."_ Said Mr. _'_ _Let's go monk because we can save money!'_ with a straight face. Or at least, if he had a face I could just imagine him trying hard from laughing his imaginary head off. I'm not going to forget that one anytime soon you crazed bastard!  
 _"_ _I'm not much of a gambler, so keep that in mind. This setting is not kind enough for me to be comfortable with much experimentation..."_ Well, at least you have our best interests in mind, namely not dying in a ditch off the road somewhere.

Dragging myself off the ground, I contemplated the long list of things to do today. First thing was first, buy clothing and that journal. And I had just the money for that. I made my way back to the road when voice B had more to whisper. Turns out, no matter how noisy the crowd was, I could hear all the voices rather clearly. I just about arrived to the scribe's shop by the time Beta had finished.  
 _"_ _If you form your party before taking up a job, it would be good to coordinate with your party members to limit strange party compositions like all healers or everyone is a Thief. Unlikely, but good to straighten that out."_ Made sense. Keep our team composition to cover each other's weaknesses _. "Also, if you end up in a party with Ranta, keep his personality in mind; he may choose a job he thinks is cool rather one you tell him to pick. He's a good kid at heart, but somewhat immature..."_ Pick a job he thinks is cool? What job would he pi- Oh. **Right**. Dread Knight was basically _begging_ for him to pick it. I suppose Ranta will be Ranta, and if we kick him out of the group he'll surely die alone somewhere doing something stupid. Can't be helped, I thought with a sigh. He was noisy but had a certain charm to him. I could see sending him to annoy the merchants until they relent and give us better prices. Heh. _Give us a deal on this, or else we'll sick Ranta on you._

 _"_ _Anyways, take it easy! Get some functional clothes, genuflect, and enjoy yourself; you're on an adventure!"_ There's no use in moping around right? Right. I am on an adventure! And once I have good clothing, food in my stomach and a place to sleep at, I'll be a happy camper.  
Beta closed his thoughts with an oddly sincere apology on being long-winded while I made my lasts steps past the gaggle of people between the scribe's shop and I. And along with a promise of being more to the point during combat, he was gone from my head.  
So they'll show up during fights? That could get messy. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. So far, they've been pretty damn helpful. I know way more about what to do than anyone else. Heh, even Renji's probably behind the curve.

The scribe shop is a pretty quick touch and go.  
"Hey, do you sell journals?"  
 _Nod. Point._  
"Ahh, I see." A quick look through their selection brings me up to a pretty nice quality leather bound book with metal plating on certain parts of the cover and spine. Paper is thick with long tabs that were easily grab able and the whole thing looked ready to survive anything. It even had a metal chain to strap onto your armor.  
"What's this journal about? It looks sturdier then the others." I asked.  
"Spellbook." The merchant answered without a care. "Made mostly for paladins who store hyms and prayers on paper, or spellblades who store incantations. They draw upon the book like a mage would draw on their staff. Needs to be durable for combat, but easy to access. Thick tabs lets the owner flip to the specific page even with armored gloves on. Having spells prepared ahead of fights allows use of spells with armor. It's too expensive for you to buy, put it down and look for something else boy." The merchant told me without a hint of malice, it was just obvious business to him.  
No need to tell me twice. I did exactly that, and quickly found a better target. Smaller regular leather bound book, thin pages but a lot more of them. I could work with this.

Overall, it cost me 50 capas for ink, a few feather pens, the journal and a satchel to carry all my goods in. I failed to bargain it for less, so I surrendered the money and moved on. Unsurprisingly, it was the satchel that cost the most, but also the most versatile of everything here. Good quality, built for long slogs around and scrap metal plating in the bandolier, which could potentially stop something sharp from doing nasty things to my chest. There was a faded red stain on the side leather that won't wash out and it makes me think rather ominous thoughts on how it ended up being sold as a second-hand item. Welp. Overall this little detour to get a journal ended up getting a pretty good bag too. I mark it as a success. The best part was being able to relieve my neck of the money bag. They fit snuggly in the bandolier and I went down the next item on the list.

Which was clothing. I spent my time walking down and glancing at the parchment I had on writing. A few things I noticed off the bat - my writing had to be another language. A more critical look into it told me nothing matched up with how I talked out loud. So on that parchment was the language I spoke in, but I _couldn't_ read, amd language I didn't speak, but _could_ read. The only link between both is that the Language I could read (but not speak), translated the paragraph of the language I couldn't read - but was fluent in. Did that make sense? As for how I figured this out: I tried reading out out what I wrote down and found it impossible. I knew the letters, but didn't know what sounds they made. It makes no sense to me. It's like my original language was wiped from my memories and the common spoken language around here replaced it - except whatever had done that had been lazy and didn't bother replacing reading and writing. I'd have to sit down and seriously commit an hour to translating things. By the time I reached that conclusion, I had reached the cloak shop. He still had his cloak on sale and _still_ refused to tone it down some. Once more I realized I was just shit at bargaining prices down.

"35 capas. Not a single capa less lad."  
"Fine. I'll do it." I caved in, and paid the man his items. Which is where I ran into Manato of all people. He walked in, did a double take, and then smiled broadly at me. "SB, good to see you again. It's been just a few hours but it feels like days."  
"Likewise friend," I said, shaking his hand warmly.  
The man's smile faded slightly as he looked around me, "Where are the others? I thought you'd be with them." He asked, slightly worried.  
"They're fine, we split ways at the office and they're all looking around town. So long as they follow Bri's advice on staying in the main roads only, shouldn't be a problem."

He nodded at that. "Good. Was worried for them, but we need a quick start in this world and I couldn't do it dragging a group around with me."  
"Heh, I hear you. Thought the same thing. Plenty of time later to share information and plot a course."  
"I see you've already bought a few items," Manato's eyes wondered over my new bandolier with joking jealousy. "I suppose that means you've already found the bank and gotten capas? What else are you planning on doing?"  
Oh nothing important really, just three hundred tasks set up by mysterious voices in my head. No biggie.  
"Looking for first aid kits now, or something to that effect. If we're fighting monsters out on the frontiers, I want to be ready. Also planning on selling my sweatshirt. Loath to part with it, but money is going to be needed." I really didn't want to give up my sweatshirt but it made too much sense to.  
"Good on you for taking the initiative. Have you heard of Jobs? I got details from a Crimson Moon member I passed by. He told me quite a lot about teamwork and how members organize their parties."  
"Actually I _did_ get info from the bank about the combat guilds, but nothing much more…."  
We spent a good ten minutes in the shop swapping details on what we learned. Specializations only happened a year to four years after the guild member had experience – or they had a wealthy patron support them. Manato had been on the edge between a warrior and a priest. When I explained my thoughts on becoming a hunter or a warrior, he seemed to decide being a priest would suit him well. Paladins seemed especially interesting to him for some reason, I think he liked the idea a lot. After that, the shop owner threatened to kick us out if we didn't buy anything.

Surprisingly Manato bought a journal as well.  
"Think we should stick together for now?" He asked. Didn't seem like a problem to me, so I nodded. "Let's."  
 _"_ _I wanna help out SB,"_ Someone new said behind me. More help? Always!  
"Thanks for the offer but who migh-" I asked, but turning around showed nobody. Manato looked at me strangely. "Did you not want to –"  
 _"_ _but I've never read Grimgal and I figure if I actually know stuff about the world and the groups' future I'd be able to help out better."_  
"-travel together?"

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "No, no, just thought I heard someone behind me. Let's go!" Except I did hear someone behind me. I know I did.  
 _"_ _Hey SB, if you're reading this message... erm... Do your best? Heh, I'm not very good at this. Talk to you later, okay?"_ Wait! Come back! But by then I felt the voice recede and disappear leaving me with more questions then answers. Reading this message? I'm definitely _hearing_ this message. Hmm. Interesting, sometimes I swear I can have a conversation with the voices, other times it's like they're already decided on what to say and nothing I do changes how they answer. Could it be messages? Food for thought.

The next shop we visited together turned out interesting: Potions. Turns out, they're just as interesting and varied as the trinkets earlier. Almost living to the stereotype, the owner of the shop was an old hag with a cane.  
"My my my, look what we have here," She snickered. "Virgins."  
Manato raised his eyebrows at that. Well, considering I have no memory of my past, I had no idea if I really was or wasn't. "Couldn't tell you if we were," I flatly answered the lady.  
She grinned wickedly. "Oh, get your mind out of the gutter boy. You're crimson moon trainees yes?"  
"That we are." Manato answered for us.  
"You look like you've just started. Haven't killed an orc yet have ye?"  
Orc? We haven't even killed a harmless rock yet! Let alone the nefarious bed spiders. Our looks gave all the answers the old lady needed.  
"Killing an orc is the tradition here, until you managed to do that – you'll always be virgins, even if you do buy your contract and become fully fledged members. The Crimson Moon is steeped in traditions like that. Best to learn of the tribe you belong to, young men."  
Manato shook his head, "I'm sure we'll get the details in Sherry's tavern latter. That's where most of the members show up before they head to sleep."  
The old lady's eyes glowed at that. "You have the right idea young man. Now, what can this old lady do for you two?"  
"This is a potions shop yes?" I asked. "Can you explain to us more about the potions in this world?"  
"Anything you can't do with magic, you can do with artifiacts. Anything you can't do with either, you can certainly find a potion to do it with. In fact, quite a lot of things you can do with both magic and artifacts, you can do with potions – but not all of course. Most of you young blood never bother with potions until much later, when you realize how much you need it. Heh. Heheheh…"

That's when Alpha showed up again, and this time he brought with him something that shocked me to my core. It started innocently enough, _"_ _Just a thought if there are healing potions ask if you have to drink it."_ Valid point, Alpha continued to explain possible ways the healing potions might have been applied and possible experiments to empower that process. Then came the mental image of a syringe. The word popped into my mind without a single doubt – that was a _syringe_ , and with Alpha's description and the image I knew _exactly_ how it could be used. And that it wasn't from this world, _couldn't_ be from this world. This was something from my own. The voices were connected to my past memory, now I was sure of it.  
"Healing droughts can be drunk like water, but you should do so only if you have been poisoned. Otherwise, you open the bottle and pour the potion anywhere you've been hurt. The potion is thin and is drawn by warmth. Your skin absolves the potion and any damage from the outside to the inside is healed as the potion sinks down into your bones. Each potion costs four silver, and can be reused multiple times depending on how much you use of it. The quality of the potion also sets its price. Anything less then four silver is typically rubbish."  
Manato nodded at that, while I remained shocked from Alpha's discovery. It took a bit of time for me to return to the present and stop my racing mind from jumping conclusions.

"Make no mistake young men, having a healing potion on you can be the difference between death and life. They're faster to use than any other healing. No chant needed. You don't even need to peel off clothing, the potion sinks past anything that isn't glass very quickly. So long as you're not on fire, there's nothing a healing drought can't heal if it's applied in time."  
I almost considered buying one right then and there, but Manato stopped me. "We might need it, but right now we can bank on being cautious to keep us alive. Later on when we're taking more risks and have a steady income, we can discuss buying one." He thought further, "Considering the price, this seems more like a group purchase then a personal one."  
The old lady simply smiled at that. "Yes, I can see you'll survive to be regular customers later. Do keep that up. Would you like to see my other wares?"  
And that we did. Turns out there **are** bandages in this world. First aid is rather simple, these heavy linen bandages soaked in some sort of sticky solution that never dries off. These bandages are a stop-gap measure when your healer cannot heal you for the next few minutes. You slap them on the wound then solution they're soaked in activate on touching blood and will glue the linen onto your skin, becoming a second barrier and effectively stopping all blood loss. It is supposed to sting like nothing you've felt before too. The old lady explained that's to keep the wound from being infected, in case you'll have to travel with that bandage for a few days instead.

Simply submerging the bandage in freshwater will neutralize the solution and let you remove it from your skin. Otherwise, trying to peel it off is practically impossible.  
We spent an hour in that shop all in all. There were very few customers, mostly because the prices here were expensive. She wasn't lying when she said there was a potion for everything. Potion of courage, potion of reckless strength, potion of swiftness, Potions to harm anywhere from efficient death to slow agony. She had love droughts and even a gender-switching potion that would only wear off in the moonlight. That one had notorious uses for either pranksters, or perverts.

While we're looking around the goods, someone behind me decides to introduce themselves.  
 _"_ _Troglodyte here, I'm gonna try something."_  
I jump at that. Try something in a potions shop?! I seethe back, "Wait just a second! - Don't - Oh. Right. Another."  
I'd like to say I was surprised to see no one was actually behind me. I'd like to. But that'd be lying now wouldn't it? Eventually someone real will _actually_ be behind me and I'll totally ignore them like a cold hearted bastard. Manato and the old lady looked at me oddly, the latter didn't seem to care much but Manato's eyes narrowed at that.  
 _"_ _Don't act on anything you hear in a moment."_ The eccentric voice announced cheerfully oblivious of the situation. If I focused, I could sort of tell it had a different pitch then the other voices. Every one of them felt different if you payed enough attention.  
 _"_ _Testing..."_  
"Ahh, sorry. I'm a bit jumpy today." I apologized to Manato. He nodded slowly as if understanding something.  
"Anytime you want to talk to me, I'm here to listen. That's what friends are for." He answered warmly enough. I get the feeling he figured something out.  
 _"_ _Test finished, please disregard anything you may have heard."_ Delightfully cryptic, but I'm fine with that. It could be worse. I had a nudging thought that this new voice had somehow snuck through something that would have certainly tested my sanity, but I can't quite put my finger on it.  
Thanks for telling me your name at least. I thought instead. That's a start you know? Should reward that type of behavior. Good voices in my head! Bad timing, but that can be worked on later.  
 _"_ _Thank you for helping us figure things out."_ Troglodyte cheerfully answered back. You know I've been convinced that they're not particularly demonic, but with a name like Troglodyte It just makes me think of… you know. Not angels.

I mean… Look over there! It's a beautiful day outside the potions shop, let's get back to important things and forget I thought anything bad!

Curiosity sated, we turned back to the road to continue our trek when trouble came to us almost instantly.  
As we passed an alleyway, a small girl bolted out of it, tears and snot running down her face. She turned wildly for a moment looking everywhere around until her eyes met ours. Like a possessed ghost, she sprinted to us and grabbed my new cloak. "P-Please!" She was hysterical. "He took her! He took my sister! She tried to fight him off a-and, a-a-nd she made me run, please you're Crimson moon! You have to help!"

Manato took her hand, "Show us the way!" He barked, eyes filled with worry. I could hear a muffled shout in the alleyway and some sort of disturbance but already it was fading off.  
"We don't have weapons!" I hissed at him, but he looked me hard in the eyes, "We've got each other, and I can throw a good punch! No time to debate!"  
 _"Come on, what kind of person would you be if you left them without help? There's a girl getting dragged off!"_ I felt the voices in the background agree all together.  
 _"Seems like there's a decent agreement to go with Manato."_ Beta commented dryly then. I didn't think of an answer, in a heartbeat I sprinted after Manato and we were at the mouth of the alleyway before we could even second guess ourselves. The little girl kept pace behind us but struggled to stay on our heels. Another voice whispered to gather people with us, but there wasn't any time. Best I could do was yell. So I did. "Anyone who can fight, come with us!" I screamed out before Manato and I dove into the alleyway. Maybe my words would bring a few others with us. I didn't have much hope. Everyone around us didn't bat an eye at all this. This world is fucked, but I was warmed by the primal knowing _truth_ – At least I was not a part of that filth.

In the distance I could see a woman, young at that, being held down by a hooded person. Their size and strength strongly made me suspect a man. She struggled upwards, refusing to be dragged backwards at least until he drew a knife to her throat and shouted something besides her ear. She went still then, with a horrified expression I could see from even here. Manato upped his speed. Troglodyte showed up to my right then, I almost felt him hovering to the side, just out of sight. He seemed focused on the situation, _"Double team the fucker, but keep an eye on the girl; make sure she isn't trying to pull a fast one on ya. If they try to kill you, you don't hold back either in combat; but keep your wits about you and contain yourself after the battle is over with."_

I took all the advice I could get to heart. We were a quarter way through the alleyway when the man noticed us. His gaze reached ours and besides the hood and mask, I couldn't tell any emotion that passed by. Quickly he forced the girl to his chest picking the frail body in one sweep and moved out of sight to the right.  
 _"Hahaha, Ho boy! As a paranoid bastard, this stinks of a trap."_ Beta chuckled at my left, opposite of Troglodyte. _"…but I also would feel horrible if it were an actual incident. Keep your eyes peeled, go with Manato."_

Could definitely be a trap, I agreed, but we've already committed. I forced my legs to carry me faster, further with deeper breaths.  
Manato on his parteasily keeps up with me and surpasses me as well. I couldn't hear much besides the sound of the wind whipping past my ears but the tell-tell footsteps of the girl followed behind us without any attempt for subtlety. I could hear her wheezing and stumbling through, somehow though, she refused to slow down. Kid had spirit, I thought. I hope we can save her sister. And I hope it doesn't end like the voices suspect it might. Alpha returned then, apparently it had been him to ask for reinforcements before committing to all this. I hadn't noticed over the din, If only I had the time! _"Oh yeah forgot to introduced myself! I know it's not the time but I'm Arbitbit39."_ He spoke softly, _"And please don't call me Alpha, it embarrassing while we're testing things, alright?"_ I had a mental image of a hand waving to stop me, along with a chop on my head.

Halfway down the alleyway now. We'll have time to sort this out later Arbit! The other voice seemed to glide through the air behind me, I don't know how I knew – I just knew. Quiet, contemplative. When he was ready, he spoke.

 _"Troglodyte here:  
Rule One. Do not outwardly react to what we say, do not respond to us physically; respond mentally." _I couldn't even think about talking during a sprint!  
 _"Rule Two. We're effectively sending you recorded messages that then play out, we can't hold a 'real-time' conversation with you like we would another person."_ That…. That made a lot of sense. I felt quite a lot of questions answered with that one statement.  
 _"Now, I was trying to figure out a way for us 'voices' to talk to each other without polluting your mind in the process. It worked."_ Explains his odd introduction.

With that part said, all three of them immediately filled me in with advice on everything from how to fight, what to look out for, to keep my back covered, that my opponent would be ready and willing to kill if need be - and to keep an exit route clearly in head. Anything that might be useful.  
I peeled my eyes looking for any piece of wood to grab on my sprint. Alleyway was picked clean, only thing on the ground was stone, sludge and broken bottles.

Wait. That's it. I scooped the first bottle with somewhat of a useable handle and shouted to Manato for his attention.  
He spared me a quick side glance while I waved the splintered bottle at him. I think he got the message since a few seconds into his next strides he had crouched quickly to grab his own makeshift weapon the moment he'd spotted a useful one.

Almost at the end.

Man had a knife and a hostage, but there were two of us and we had weapons to use as well. Considering he didn't just give up the girl then and there when he saw us charging, he must have someplace to hide in that right alleyway. Maybe his hideout was close enough.  
 _"Remember~"_ Beta spoke with a singsong voice, _"When meeting with scary people, you must protect your wallet and your asshole!"_ Shit, what's worse is that fate was next to guaranteed for the woman if we couldn't save her in time. I increased my sprint with the weight of the situation. Troglodyte had warned me to prepare for pain. I grit my teeth.

 _"But seriously, it would really suck to get robbed."_ That sent some chills down my spine. I could feel every silver coin in my shoes. If I didn't win this upcoming fight, I'd stand to lose everything – my new bag, cloak, sweatshirt, and if they went for my shoes – I wouldn't even have enough money left in the bank to buy training at the guilds. Worse, we had no idea how many we might run into. So far, just one. But they might know magic or skills that we don't. No choice now. We reached the end of the alleyway and turned the corner right. Both of us caught sight of the man immediately, the woman standing quietly next to him. They were far closer then I'd assumed. They must have been waiting.

It's funny how in the moments of most danger, you can almost see things move slowly. My mind drifted right back to what the voices had warned me about. In full detail, every comment they told me. I screamed, "Behind u-"  
Then pain flare through my calf and shut me up mid-bellow. I glanced behind me and noticed the little girl drawing another piece of sharp metal and stabbing Manato's calf with it while his attention hadn't been fixed. Shit. She didn't bother removing the makeshift weapons, instead quickly skirting out of range. My calf had a rusted metal sliver embedded deep into it and it fucking _ached_. Some strange part of me wondered then in anger: _They couldn't even use a proper knife to attack us, at least get that part right you scum._  
"No…." Manato hissed to my side. A glance in front and told me the pair hadn't wasted that distraction. Both of them had drawn daggers out and had already walked into stabbing distance, glinting metal pointed viciously at the pair of us. Their eyes glued on our rather lacking broken bottles.

"Run!" I shouted at Manato, turning around to scramble out of the alleyway but instantly stumbled on my wounded calf. "You go! I'll hold them off!" I heard him roar. I don't think he even noticed I'd fallen. The hooded man waved his dagger, "Just giv-" but he was immediately silenced. Manato had thrown a lighting quick jab with his left hand. They weren't expecting it either, their attention had been kept by his makeshift weapon. If anything, I think they were surprised he decided to fight at all. His punch landed squarely on the man's hooded face and he stumbled backwards a bit with a curse. Manato moved forward to cross jab and despite the dagger stuck on his calf, he made good with it. The broken bottle sunk into the man's stomach and the thug _screamed_.

I felt something cold press to my throat. "Tell him to back off!" A little voice shrieked at my side. "Now!"  
What choice did I have? Arbit had told me it was better to comply or bluff that I was insane if things turned bad. Beta had scoffed at that and told me bluffing my way out that way would get me killed for sure. I decided on straight up complying. I get the feeling they'd kill for a lot less. My hands dropped the bottle and I waved them in front of the girl, which made her even more nervous on hindsight. "We lost! We give up! Take ever-"

And while I was shouting my unconditional surrender like a complete coward, the thug had recovered from the stab. "Fucking fucker stabbed me, kill him Albedo! Kill him now!" He dived forward with his dagger, roaring at Manato who brought up his left forearm to take the blow in response. Dagger sunk into his arm, but Manato wasn't done yet. Like he didn't even register the dagger on his forearm, his right hand reached forward to stab the man again with the broken bottle. There was no way to dodge, Manato would strike true. The little girl screamed in sheer panic to my side.

Only his lunge was stopped midway through. The woman had snuck behind him, jumping on his back and wrapping her arms and legs around him in what I could only say was some sort of vice like serpent grip. Her free hand commanded her dagger, arched it through the air and cut neatly through Manato's throat. The walls were quickly painted red. Manato stumbled backwards with an utterly surprised look on his face, supporting the weight of both the woman and himself on his wounded calf. He dropped the bottle, and his free hand reached out to grab his throat, but that did nothing to stop the life draining from him. Brown eyes locked onto mine. I could see fear, surprise, horror. He crumpled on himself then, whatever strength leaving his body in bloody splatters. The woman jumped off like a rat on a sinking ship and landed deftly to the side. I saw Manato's knees hit the ground and carry the weight of his chest and legs down into the stone ground with a wet crash. He was still like a mountain to the side of a red lake.

"MANATO!" I bellowed, fanatic. I threw the little girl and her knife off me without a care and charged forward to his side. My calf burned and the muscles refused to contract, so I ended half-stumbling half lunging. The assassins didn't bother stopping me, instead tending to their own wounded. I grabbed what was left of the man I knew, willing him to come back. His eyes had closed and he was knocked out cold. The blood poured out of the slit throat no matter how hard I tried to push against it. It bled past the cracks on my gloves and fingers, I couldn't possibly stop it. In a few moments, the flow ebbed and stopped on its own.

I heard a woman say something behind me, "What a fucking mess. Had to be some fuckin' hero. Stupid fucker."  
"I did everything right!" A smaller voice screamed. "You can't pin this on me! You can't! You're the one that killed him! That wasn't the plan! You didn't have to do that!"  
"If Albedo hadn't," A grunt. "It woulda been me getting burned and buried tonight." Man's voice. Sounded in pain too. A hand reached out to grab my shoulder. "Nothing personal, but we don't want no trouble chasing after us. Crimson moon bounty hunters don't stoop for small timers like us, but ain't about to tempt fate if you go running a fat mouth." He said to my back. My world was spun around roughly by that hand and I saw the vanishing glint of metal dive down unerringly for my head.

The old hag put down another potion on display. Manato reached out for it and examined the item, turning to ask me something. His mouth moved but no sound came out. My mind was frozen for some reason, giving an odd feeling that nothing around me mattered. My legs suddenly ached, but all I'd done was walk around town today. The view of Manato looking curiously at me, trying to get my attention was simply… surreal. Slowly, but steadily the world in general began to _feel_ real again. Color returned to the forefront, the cold wet smell of morning arrived next like a slap on my face. I heard his voice, slowly unmuting then suddenly clarifying with a rush as the last of the ice relinquished my mind. "... or something, you're completely pale." He said, finally making sense.  
"I'm not sure. I... I'll just take a breath of fresh air for a moment. Must have smelled something that didn't agree with me." I answered, still puzzling over just what happened.  
Manato nodded, returning to the old lady to ask further questions while I walked out of the potion shop.

It felt like something had happened, but I couldn't think of anything recent. Something important. Wait - did something happen to Ranta and the rest back at the office? Or it could have been a potion that was opened by accident in the shop. Alergic reaction? I felt tired, like I'd run a two hundred yard sprint just now. Not to mention my calf throbbed with pain. Pulling up my pant legs showed perfectly pink skin, nothing was off. Some sort of cramp maybe? Manato left the shop a few moments later.  
"Shall we go?"  
"Sure, let's." I answered, uneasy.  
"You all right? You sort of just... stopped and stared in the shop, like you'd gone too deep in a daydream."  
"I'm not really sure myself. I'm tryi-"

Then I realized what was missing - the voices. It was completely quiet, not even the comfortable muffled buzzing in the back of my mind. The thought that they were gone actually terrified me for a moment. It felt like I had lost a part of me.  
Manato noticed my silence, but decided to let me figure things out for myself. We walked for a moment, maybe 5 minutes, during which I tried calling out to them. Light banter at first, growing more and more worried when _nothing_ answered back. Then trouble came while I was contemplating.  
As we passed an alleyway, a small girl bolted out of it, tears and snot running down her face. She turned wildly for a moment looking everywhere around until her eyes met ours. Like a possessed ghost, she sprinted to us and grabbed my new cloak. "P-Please!" She was hysterical. "He took her! He took my sister! She tried to fight him off a-and, a-a-nd she made me run, please you're Crimson moon! You have to help!"

Manato took her hand, "Show us the way!" He barked, eyes filled with worry. I could hear a muffled shout in the alleyway and some sort of disturbance but already it was fading off. Manato looked at me for a moment expecting an answer but all I returned was a blank stare. Everything felt familiar, but nothing came to mind on _why_. The more I thought on it, the more it struck me as… _loss_.  
"We've got to go now!" He yelled at me, grabbing my shoulder and shaking me hard, "Snap out of it! Someone's life is in danger! I can't do this without you!"

Then the familiar background muttering of the voices fell comfortably back to their usual place.


	4. Chapter 4

_Stop Manato from going._

My hands reached out without thought, I grabbed Manato's shoulder and yanked him back. He stumbled behind me, face flashing with confusion.

 _Grab the girl.  
_  
Before I knew it, my other hand reached out and grabbed the little girl's. A quick yank, along with a squeak and I had her arm painfully pinned. She wasn't going anywhere.  
 _"_ _I'm not mad... just disappointed that the world met my expectations. Still, it's never wrong to help people. Though I suppose in this situation, we're saving Manato, huh?"_ Beta tutted to the side. Saving Manato? I'm glad you're an altruist Beta, but what was that about saving Manato?  
 _"_ _Sorry about the whole 'gone quiet' bit; We were processing the results of a bad decision - we'll tell you about it later, for now we need you to trust us on this: What you've just come across a scam, no matter how convincing it is it ain't the real thing."_ Trog calmly stated, floating just off my right. His voice perked up slightly, as if remembering something nice, _"_ _Arbit gathered some useful info in regards to food! He'll share it with you when you're in a safe spot and can write it down."_

Why had I called him Trog instead of his full name? I remember a conversation before where he'd told me that I could call him that. Every word too but I can't remember when. It felt like … like those memories from my past. Something had happened. I remember Beta and Arbit cramming me with advice on how to fight, what to look out for, anything. Even the Oldest had told questioned what sort of person I'd be if I just let someone get kidnapped right in front of my eyes. But for what point? I can't remember any context. Had they really said all that or was I just going insane?

Focus. A scam they said it all was. I looked back to the struggling girl. All the pieces were here, I just needed time to put it together. Or a faster mind. _"_ _Ask the little girl how Albedo and her friends are doing. Keep an eye on the girl; in case she reacts in a way you can use in your defense or if she moves to attack."_ I'd heard enough voices to recognize a difference. This one was definitely new. I wasn't stupid enough to disregard its advice just because of that.

You _all_ better explain this in detail later then.  
"S.B, have you lost your mind?!" Manato barked at me, drawing his fists together. I didn't answer him. Instead, I put every token of faith I had in me and bet on the voices in my head.  
"How's Albedo and company doing?" I asked having no idea what it meant.  
But she did. The little girl instantly went rigid for a moment.

Then twirled and attacked with her left hand. It might have gotten any one else off-balance. But I was already tipped off she could be dangerous and had her right arm locked. I admit I didn't even see a knife, but I didn't have to see it either. The way her tiny frame was angled, I knew she was about to shank me with something sharp. I forced her right hand down immediately and yanked her alongside. She weighed much less than a hundred pounds and was thrown clear off her feet. In moments she hit flat ground with a choke, her left hand had let go of the dagger it held. It didn't end there either. Our eyes met for only a moment, in it I saw genuine fear. She struggled up but couldn't yank her arm free that easily. I hadn't noticed her draw some sort of scrap metal needle from her boot with her left.

But Manato had. She didn't even manage to free the thick needle before Manato descended on her, pinning her last free hand. She kicked feebly once, then gave up and went still. The entire fight took only a few seconds. I felt a flood of relief realizing Manato had understood. The most surreal part of all this – no one around us had bat an eye, instead they simply walked around us and avoided eye contact.

"I'm a fool." Manato hissed. "I'm such a fool."  
"Yea, we're going to have a long talk you and I about things," I took deeper breaths, trying to flush out the ache in my body. "...but that's for later. Right now, just glad you picked up fast. Think you can get some help? There might be more people in that alleyway." I answered back.  
"Think anyone'll help? You really believe that?!" The girl screamed at us. She struggled then, hard. It didn't help against the weight of two men. Half a second later she was still again. "Guards won't even step foot near the slums." There was real venom in her voice. In that moment, I got a good look at her. Tiny, and the tattered rags she used as a cloak did nothing to help. Dirty blond hair, cheeks sunken slightly but still noticeably, a spreading bruise on her left, and her eyes felt like they were trying to burn me alive. She might have been pretty, once. She didn't drop her gaze either, as if she was determined to stare me down. One second she had been crying and sobbing, the next it felt like a mask had been thrown off her true self.

"What's going on?" A man's voice behind us. Manato and I turned our attention and met a guard's eyes.  
"Nothing, we just had a disagreement and she went a little violent. She gets like that sometimes." Manato quickly said, I just stared at him slack jaw. I wasn't the only one surprised, even the girl seemed shocked. Then her eyes narrowed with what I could only describe as pure suspicion. The guard on his part didn't seem bothered at all. "Right… well, take your disputes off the street. Proper folks do business out here and we keep the order. Just keep it off the streets, got it?"  
Manato nodded slowly, as if digesting a particularly bitter nut. We holstered up the girl and force marched her over to a quieter section. She didn't bother with any resistance. While we found a spot, Beta followed above and I felt him observe the streets as if it just confirmed his opinions further. _"_ _The major sin here is apathy. I'm pretty sure most of the people around would just kinda look away and go "not my problem", even if there was somebody being murdered in broad daylight. Just that kind of place."_  
Yea. I wasn't a fan of the neighborhood either Beta.  
 _"_ _Worst comes to worst, it'll be back into the alleyway, except at least this time "suspected trap" becomes "known trap". But I really hope for Plan A, expose the trap."_ He finished.  
 _"_ _I figure we'd just see Manato run in like a fool otherwise, or make an enemy of him."_ Another voice agreed. I recognized it as the Oldest.  
 _"_ _Also, if you get taken hostage like that again with a knife against your neck, the usually taught method for getting out is to pretend to capitulate as a distraction, then grab the wrist holding the knife and twist down; from there, you're in a decent position to switch places and turn the tables."_ Taken hostage… again? I thought for a moment Beta had lost it, but everything was pointing to a bigger picture here. They spoke like something had happened already. Trog promised me answers when things had settled down.  
 _"_ _I wish I said this earlier, but I wanted to go for either a staff or go unarmed because bladed weapons psychologically cause escalation... as you saw."_ Now you're just taunting me! What the hell happened back at the potions shop?!

…

No answer. Well. I suppose it worked out for now. Trog said it was like pre-recorded messages... and again I can't remember just when he said it. Thinking about what could have happened, we'd have certainly gotten robbed blind. If they'd found the silver in my shoes, I wouldn't be able to even afford training at a guild! We dodged a fat one here. Did the voices have clairvoyance or something?

The new one choose to speak then. _"_ _Hello, SB~ This one introduces itself as Spectrum~"_ It felt like a calculating one, but hey at least this one introduced itself on the first go! That's some real progress here, I'm proud of you guys. I felt Albit flinch and scurry behind the others at the newcomer though. Ha, shy? Spectrum didn't seem phased a bit at that. _"_ _You're in a dangerous situation right now, so I won't distract you and will instead just wish you good luck. Even if things are looking down, don't despair! Believe! Even if you don't believe in yourself, believe in the us who believe in you!"_ Some other part of me was screaming something about walking copyright infringement case here. But I took heart the words nonetheless. Heh. The voices in my head believed in me. Considering we caught the thief, I'd say we're doing pretty good so far.

We reached a good spot, and yanked the girl onto a wall.  
"What are you going to do now?" She asked roughly. There was a tint of fear on the edges, despite her best attempts to keep it in check. A slight pause as I realized I had no idea at all. I looked back at Manato for advice.  
But it didn't come from him. _"_ _Grab the girl and we have a hostage to get the criminals. Find reinforcements and they'd back off."_ The Oldest calmly stated. Seemed like a good plan so I rolled with it, because Manato clearly had no idea what to do next. I realized he hadn't thought this far ahead. Likely, he just couldn't stomach the thought of turning in the girl to the guard. And on further reflection, I don't think the girl would have had much of a trial or even seen a cell. _"_ _Buy a knife after this maybe for everyone it has a lot of utilities if you think about it."_ Arbit said from Trog's side. Better idea, take her's. Free dagger. So I did just that.

 _"_ _Maybe use your cloak to protect yourself and disarm opponents. Your bag can qualify as a shield and the ink could blind your opponent."_ The ink idea is something I can see good use with, I thought with a grin. I'll have to find a way to make it easy access. Food for thought latter.  
"We've got you hostage, and I've got your weapon. Your friends won't be doing anything so long as you're stuck here." I said to the girl.  
She looked me dead in the eyes while her's just widened in disbelief. Then she laughed. Actually _laughed_. It took a few seconds for her to settle down, and neither Manato or I said anything the whole time. It was a bitter, lonely laugh.  
"Are you stupid or something? When I didn't come back they knew I screwed up and ran for it. That's what I'd do. No one's coming back for me. No one would care to either."

For the first time, the voices were in disagreement with one another.  
 _"Loot everything off her, then ask what she's going to do from there_." The oldest calmly stated. _"Not like anyone cares I guess. Just disarm her and continue with your day, unless she decides to switch sides or something."_ Having spoken his peace, he disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.  
Albit jumped in just then, angry. " _That's a bad idea! One: Manato's there so he'll definitely stop you and his trust will be gone, so ask what happen if you let her go -would they hurt or kill her because someone can ID her? Does she have parents and what about how she would survive now?"_ Albit splurged forward, if he'd been human he would have surely gone a bit blue from lack of air heh.  
Beta just laughed in the background, _"… This is a complicated situation."_

"S.B." Manato turned to me, his eyes said it all: What do we do?  
"Hang on," I answered, "I'm thinking. I'll take my time and make a good decision." I had a gut feeling in my head there'd be some discussion on this. The girl took a breath to say something, paused, then clearly thought better. Her mouth clamped shut, and she simply gazed at me impassively. "Keep an eye on her for me. I'm going to sit down and think." Manato only nodded, and kept her pinned to the wall. I was feeling real tired after the incident in the potions shop. Just sitting down on the ground brought out a sigh of relief from me.

Arbit squeaked to the side then, _"If she is willing to be in your care ... I think I know how to help."_ Out of all the voices, Arbit seemed like the most innocent of the bunch. Could always rely on him for a mess of ideas and things. Some point today I'm going to have to sit down and wring him of everything I can get, I thought with an evil grin. I mean nice grin. Yes, very nice grin. Trog did say he had discovered something about food, and Trog's not the type to mention useless details. If it got his attention, it had to be good.

 _"Remember Trog saying on my ideas, maybe we could give her a job?"_ And then he launched into his pitch with complete enthusiasm. _"Though we need to know the prices for housings for a base of operation, inns are nice but having your own place has more potential! Maybe she knows more than the bank knows or Bri. She can either be a clerk, or help grow plants or gather the ingredients or we could sponsor her to a merchant or craftmen guild in the future! But don't blindly trust her, she's an experience con artist right now you don't know if this is another play or something - and Manato, I bet he'll have those I-need-to-save-this-child eyes on his face right now."_ I could almost see Arbit pacing around besides me, one hand furiously scratching his chin in deep reflection. On that last point, I glanced to my right and looked at Manato. He did indeed seem to have a very empathetic gaze. Then the rest of the gang showed up.  
 _"Spectrum speaking~"_ I felt him pace in existence behind me, _"If no one else has given you the heads up on Manato, I will do so now~ As you have probably figured out by now, he is what you can genuinely call a good guy. Unfortunately, he feels too much and will take on too much for himself, beyond what he is actually capable of, for the good of others."_

Trog appeared besides him, _"Trog here; SB, why don't you call me Sir Fluffles, it's a nickname I like that I got cuz of my hair."_ Rejected. I thought immediately. Sir Fluffles is too long, Trog just rolls off easily enough. I choose lazy any day of the week. Though I'll compromise with Fluffy. Works?  
I felt as if he rolled his eyes at me, but Trog turned his attention to Spectrum instead getting back to the discussion. _"Seconding this,"_ he said, matter of fact on Spectrum's point. _"He seems the type to be good to the point of martyrdom; These type of folks are always good if they're on your side and you can keep 'em from hitting the...dirtier folk you deal with, but bad if they're coming after you. They don't stop."_

The two discussed for a moment on what to do. Spectrum was of the opinion that we simply couldn't do much good for her, and should focus on getting ourselves up. That meant grabbing whatever spoils there was to get. But that quickly turned into a full on debate going down in the back of my head.  
 _"Confiscate her knife and demand information from her. Threaten with taking more than information as punishment if she tries to lie to you. You also can't trust her in the long term without incentive and you don't have a support base to take care of her or even employ her right now, again even if you wanted to."_ Spectrum critically announced. I pegged it right – he was definitely a calculating one. It was a solid plan too. Beta had a different idea on that however.  
 _"Don't... threaten her with more than information as punishment, especially with that wording. Considering where she lives, her mind will go to wrong places._ _Hell, Manato's might as well. Get her name, ask about any places of interest."_ Beta suggested instead _, "If she's not too uncooperative, give her 3-5 capas - enough for a good meal or two - and tell her you're always willing to buy good information as long as you have money."_ You know, that sounds like a great idea actually! Renji had done something like that before with buzz-cut guy. Defeat equals friendship and all that.  
 _"Though you should also admit that since the Crimson Moon has your contract, you are technically in debt."_ Spectrum scoffed loudly at that, but didn't bother debating it further. Ah, details! Crimson moon can bite my ass for all I care. I'll buy my contract when I damn well feel like it.

What to choose? The Oldest and Spectrum both wanted to grab loot, info and wipe our hands of all this as soon as possible because it's the practical solution. There was nothing good with involving ourselves in this. Arbit and Beta were on the opposite side, because… basic human decency I suppose. Pragmatic against Idealistic. It was a complete tie on what to do. It was up to Trog to tip the scales – he was much more surprised at Spectrum's perspective and had no reservations in showing it, _"Jesus Fuck Spectrum! That's some downright nasty shit! If I heard some thug that had me at mercy say, "Tell me what I want or else I'll take what I want and more" I'd think the thug was less of a thug and something far more vile."_

That didn't stop Spectrum one bit, he'd been quiet listening to everyone else, but that accusation demanded his attention. _"Threatening is what she knows and it's how this game is played."_ He answered calmly. I swear, if he had glasses, he'd be pushing them up dramatically every few seconds. You know the effect I'm talking about. Trog snorted in contempt at that,

"So lemme point out why the kid shouldn't do that:

One - Manato won't stand for it, he's a White Knight of White Knights. He'll shoot that shit down before it even finishes flying. It's not worth it.  
Two - The girl will know SB can't back it up. She's been her a long time and we've been here for less than two days, she knows we're newcomers.  
And three: Demanding things will only get the girl to resent us, instead you need to make a deal; make her feel like she has some power I.E. let her negotiate with you."

Spectrum scoffed and launched a rebuttal, "Attempting to be kind means she'll believe you won't be genuine. Threaten her and she recognizes the exchange." I couldn't help but notice the bruise on her cheek then. This world was the fucking worst. The girl noticed my glance too, and leveled one of her own. "What?"  
"Just… thinking how shit all of this is."  
"I don't want your pity." She answered flatly. It was like I had insulted her just then. Manato spoke then, oblivious of what was going on in my head. It had been at least a good two minutes now.  
"What's your name?" He asked.  
She shrugged, "Kate."  
"Why did you try to rob us?"  
"Because if I didn't they'd kick me out of the group."  
"Haven't you ever thought… to run? To get away from it all? You aim for people who try and save your partner right? They're good people then. Why not… why not let them save you?"  
She stared at him for a moment, "Good people?" Then she grinned all of a sudden, as if she realized something, "You know what makes it easy to just con people like this?"

The voice of calculating logic wasn't done with Trog yet however, _"Manato is a White Knight but he's not an idiot. He'll recognize the play for what it is. She knows nothing about SB other than he is new, which is meaningless. People like Renji come through as well. She's already lost, she knows she is completely at SB's mercy. That's the way it is in the gutter."_  
Trogg threw up his hands in frustration, then turned to me.

 _"If you want to make her loyal to the group here's what you gotta do: Show that you're the best option logically. Show that you're the best option morally. Treat her better than others treat her. Ensure a better quality of life so long as she's with you. Ensure she has no-where else to go without starting from scratch. All of these are pathetically, sadly, and usefully easy to do."_ Trog spoke slowly, his voice had dropped to a lower pitch. Spectrum sighed instead, but let Trog finish his thoughts politely. _"She currently has no-one else to go to; her 'friends' have abandoned her. If you plan on being successful adventurers you'll be getting a good income, so you can ensure three meals a day and a safe place. Just treat her like a person: respect her and accept that she has worth due to being her."_

I heard the girl open her mouth next to me. "What makes it easy, is knowing how fake it all is. Did you know that when they charge in - they're not doing it to save someone at all? If they were really a hero, why didn't they save that homeless man slumped by the side of the street? Why didn't they do anything about the hundreds of people they pass by daily? What makes some woman with a knife at her throat more important than everyone else slowly dying? Just because she's some girl in distress she's suddenly someone worth saving?" It was like watching fire melt through Ice. The girl's face flushed with glee watching Manato blanch. He was holding her pinned to the wall, but it felt like she was the one that had him pinned.

Spectrum and the voices hadn't noticed the fight going on between Manato and the girl. They were still knee deep in their argument, _"SB is a Day 0 Not-Yet-Adventurer in a party of Not-Yet-Adventurers who don't know even know what end is the pointy one to stick someone with." Spectrum stated with a dignified tut. "You are hilariously overstating their competence and ability to pull of what you describe. Turn her loose and she'll easily enough make her way back to her accomplices. There's no way she wouldn't know how with the type of scheme they set up.  
You can't trust her. Her entire job in their crew was to __**deceive**_ _marks by pulling on their heartstrings. Look how good at it she was, it's even working on you and you're not even in the same dimension she is!"_

Trog stopped cold at that. He fidgeted to the side, thinking and scowling, arms crossed tightly. I felt his mouth open and close a few times as he tried to formulate an answer that never came. Then he sighed defeat.  
"Yea, you know now don't you?" Her voice dropped to a whisper, she leaned as close as she could to Manato's ear. "They're doing it to feel _good_ about themselves." Then her voice simply went cold. "Just. Like. _You_."  
She was tearing into him now, savagely. I could tell by how her smile simply widened. She must have relished at the look on his face.  
"Because guess who else walked by everyone else today?"

 _"Damn cold logic; but you make undeniable points, she's dealt with threats for so long that she won't know how to deal with something else. It's just..I like to believe that if you give a person what they need to survive so they don't have to turn to desperate, dangerous, and dirty acts they'll change for the better. If that person decides to piss all over the effort I've put towards giving them a chance to do more then...then I'll deal with it when that time comes; and even after that I wouldn't suddenly stop, I'd keeping going but...be a bit more careful. Once bitten, twice shy and all that. But this is SB's life on the line right now, so..."_ I could feel Beta swallow his pride on this one. _"Spectrum, your pragmatism is the correct choice at this time."_  
He sighed again, shifted his footing and muttered, _"...Just get some damn information from the girl."_ With that, he disappeared to brood.

All the while the girl tore into Manato without a shred of resistance from him. "So you want to know why Albedo and I don't just turn on Yatro and let ourselves get 'rescued'?" Because the next day, we'll wake up in the same slum, on the same place, with the same problems. Because once our hero had his fun and gets tired of being a hero, he goes home for the night and the story ends. That's _why_. Answered your question nee?"  
Everyone was silent. Even the voices in my head had gone quiet. It was all a mess in my head, so I stood up and asked, "Tell me how this all started for you."  
"What's it matter to you?" She spat immediately.  
"It doesn't," I growled back. "But maybe it'll teach us something." I glanced at Manato. The man had seriously taken a blow and he didn't know how to answer it. "Besides, we're not asking in case you haven't noticed." I patted her dagger on my belt. "So tell us."  
She glared at me for a moment, shrugged again, then spoke. "I'm a Blood Moon Trainee, same as you. Still got the badges too, don't even know why I keep them anymore though. I came maybe a year ago and a hunter came by the recruiting office offering to let me join his team. He was strong and I was scared, so I joined him for safety thinking I was lucky." She grinned at that, but I didn't see a shred of mirth in her eyes.  
"The first and worst mistake I've ever made." She took a pause to gather her thoughts. Manato raised his head at her words, I could see him run into a conclusion just then, right as Kate continued. "He sat me down on a rock, told me he was going to take care of the money for us both. So I gave him the silver I got from my badges. Then he said he was going to town to get the rest of the group and asked me to wait until he got back. He never returned of course. Stayed there until it was night and then most of the next day too before the lesson got through. I couldn't buy training at the guilds, no one would take me, and I didn't have a capa to my name. So I found other ways of staying alive. Happy?"

I nodded slowly, processing what I heard. Manato opened his mouth, "Who was the hunter? Did you get a name?"  
"What's it ma-"  
"Who. Was. The hunter." Manato coldly asked with an edge I didn't expect from him. He seemed taken aback himself. It felt like he was about to apologize for something, but stopped. "It's just… It's just we had a teammate taken from us by a hunter too..." It sunk into me then. How could I be so fucking dense?!  
Kate shrugged again. "Couldn't forget his name even if I tried. He didn't introduce himself to anyone really, men like him don't gain anything from people knowing their names. But when he walked into the recruitment office, the officer called him out first thing. Named Raghill, and he doesn't stay in town. He travels around with his group. He's the sort to get a reputation anywhere he stays, so he doesn't."  
"You're in luck then," I said numbly. "That's the guy that took our teammate. So he's in town right now."  
Manato's knuckles were white.  
"And what do you expect me to do about it?" She snarled. "You think I haven't thought about murdering him every single night?! I almost went through with it once, four months ago. Realized then pretty dumbly: revenge is just another luxury. I'm not the only one he's pissed off and you'll notice he hasn't been found burned in a ditch yet. Take a guess why."

We both fell silent then.  
"Least you're not that dumb. Now what do you want from me? You spent the last five minutes staring off into space." She tutted.  
"Information." I answered instantly.  
Manato nodded then, it was like his spirit had perked up on it. "We'll employ you for it too."  
"Don't look at me like that," She spat at Manato. "I don't want _your_ pity. It's _worthless_." I shook her hard, before she could really get to my friend again. That shut her up instantly. "Information. And if you're useful, capas in the future. Strictly business here. Deal?"  
"Yes, deal." She answered instantly. "What do you want to know?"

We spent the next ten minutes crossing her with questions, anywhere from the inn with the best rates to surviving the slums. Somewhere along the way we all just sat down and discussed. She became much easier to work with once she heard she'd be getting paid for her services. I had my journal out and took notes on every detail she knew, straight from what the voices had asked. After that, we got some information on life in the slums. We even learned about the thief's guild being there.  
Turns out, right after she was thrown into the streets by Raghill, she first learned how to catch rats and cook them. It wasn't as terrible as we thought. People down there didn't get into real fights either, no one had the energy to spare. Any fight cost, even just getting cut could be a week's worth of agony if it gets infected. So fights were something that rarely happened. The place she moved into was called Nishimachi, but I'd just call it the slums.

The really dangerous people were the ones that just arrived and still had the energy to take what they wanted, the people on the edge of the slums who are looking to beat down someone for fun, the kingpins and gangs who stuck together, and finally the guards. But that's only if you were out on the main street. You could pass by them if you had good clothing, but if you didn't – they'd spot you and slowly box you in if you didn't make a run for the alleyways. Then they'd beat you down and throw you into the first alleyway they'd find themselves. There was no fighting the guards either. They had armor and the best you could hope for was that they thought drawing a weapon wasn't necessary against you. The people of the slums dealt with all of the above by just avoiding getting too close to anyone. It wasn't hard when everyone else was actively doing the same. If anyone started walking directly in your direction, you turned and ran. There wasn't much to do about diseases. It's not like you could quarantine yourself from anyone sick. On that front, it was just praying you had good enough luck to not wake up sickly.

There were few rules oddly enough, and most of them were traditions rather the rules. The most important of them all was to burn any dead body you came across. While disposing of the corps, no one bothered you. It was safe ground, even the gangs wouldn't think of starting something at someone's burial. There was a respect for the dead. It kept the slums from having skeletons raise and attack people. It also kept the guards from having to go in and pacify the situation too. If there wasn't an undead infestation to deal with, the guards wouldn't bother to set foot in the slums.

Kate had stayed alone for a few months before running into a pair she named as Albedo and Yatro. Of the two, Albedo was the only real thief with any training. A kleptomaniac who was blacklisted from the Crimson Moon because she got drunk after a dispute and got caught trying to steal a valuable item from her own team – then accidentally killed a teammate that same night in a blotched attempt to cover up her crime. Yatro just knew people, and that was valuable in the slums. No one would bat an eye if he died, but they'd miss the connections he had. Together, the three of them conned rich merchant's boys as the usual target. Anyone that read fantasy books, or hadn't spent a lot of time near the slums. Kate didn't feel a shred of remorse for any of them. But she did say she felt uneasy trying to steal from new Crimson Moon trainees. The other two in her group didn't care and if she didn't follow they'd find someone else to be bait, so she followed along. Crimson Moon were just as bad as anyone else in her book, but she still didn't like the thought of having put someone else on her path. Not that she could help it. She told us in no uncertain terms, the weak didn't get choices.

We paid her 25 capas, mostly from Manato, who had insisted he had asked the most questions so he should pay the price. She didn't say a word and just took the money offered. She told us where to get in contact with her if we had business. Then she left just as wordlessly.  
"Hey Manato," I said. My friend simply turned to look at me, "You know, I think everyone wants to save the world, deep down inside. But there's something I want you to know."  
He had a worried face at that, as if expecting me to throw venom at him too. I didn't of course.  
"I don't think everyone can save the world, else it'd have been saved already a million times over." I paused for a moment, trying to pick my words. "I think, sometimes, you only really get a chance to save one person. And I want you to know, it's okay if you only get to save one person. And it's okay if that one person is you."

We both stood quietly in the noisy street, wondering who we should save next.


	5. Chapter 5

We walked through town for a bit longer, idle chatter between Manato and I. The atmosphere was a bit strangled and awkward but we both cleared it up in less than half an hour.  
"SB," he said after we had warmed up enough. I got a feeling this was back to serious again. "I didn't want to ask you in front of Kate, but how did you know they would ambush us?" Right, I'd been expecting that one. The gang in my head also anticipated it too, so my answer was well-rehearsed.  
"I didn't just talk to Bri about everything to watch out for. Been pretty productive this morning you know. One of the better known scams out there was just that. They'd done it one too many times and eventually someone figured out their names too. We ran into celebrities." I shrugged. "It was an offhand comment, and I didn't expect them to target us out of everyone in town. But…"

He chuckled, "But we're easy targets. I get that. I suppose we should be glad it was us they hit first instead of the others."  
Good thing Ranta was waiting by the office with the girls, I don't even want to think how he'd react to that scam. Talking about the others, "I met Haru at the bank, so he's probably floating around here too. Think we should find him and drag him with us? We've got plenty enough info for today. And I'm not just saying that because my legs feel like they're dying on me. Just _mostly_."  
"Not sure if we'd be able to find him. This place is a maze, frankly I'm surprised you haven't lost your way yet."  
Well… I technically never _found_ my way. "I have a secret power actually." He raised his eyebrows. "See I have this amazing ability of walking up to random people and asking directions. I know, I know, save your applause." That got a tiny chuckle out of him. But the real fun was knowing _you_ all took a deep breath at that sentence. Heh.

And of course, after poking fun at you all, that's when you decide to show up again. This past half hour had been just slight mutterings in the background. _"_ _Get to learning to read so you can choose what training to get."_ The oldest voice commanded then. _"_ _You're only a little less helpless than Kate at the moment. Fix that before anything else."_ I cringed a bit at that, he had a point.

 _"_ _Spectrum here~"_ That pitch of voice was unmistakable of course. Because when one voice shows up, the rest of them don't want to feel left out. _"_ _Let's call that enough excitement for now. You did learn a lot of valuable things even before this little almost misadventure, so it's time to share. When people get there, trade information with everyone, and make sure they're aware of the dangers in the slums and the kinds of cons people are running."_ Made sense, I behind that idea. He wasn't done just yet, _"_ _Organize your thoughts with your journal while learning, as well."_ Then, as if an afterthought, _"_ _And keep an eye on Manato and don't let him get too down on himself. One incident shouldn't break his spirit...but you never know."_ I could feel his eyes rove over to my friend, only slightly worriedly. Beta popped behind Specturm _, "After regrouping, the only real things left would be maybe checking out the bar a little then going to sleep at an inn after, right?"_ He said lazily, arms crossed over the back of his head before disappearing just as quickly.

Any other suggestions voices? Of course, just so happen _did_ have more suggestions.

"I suggest you find the others and talk somewhere you can rest." Albit said, popping out of nowhere. "As much as I want getting new info, you two are both too physically and mentally exhausted to focus. But if you still insist on learning take the other to the library..."  
Library huh? I was pretty damn tired, but it's only midday. It did feel like a waste to retire this early. While I'd been discussing with Manato all this time, the voices must have been discussing among each other on the best course of action next. Reading, as it turned out, was something they were pretty dead set about. I'd love nothing more than to complain about it, but I also didn't want to be an illiterate murder hobo either. I think they were called Barbarians, and I had nowhere near the protein powder for that yet. And there I was again with the words that made no sense. Must have been something from my past life.

"Think they have a library in town?" I asked Manato instead. He shrugged. "Not likely. We did pass that bookstore a few streets back, it was small but it might be worthwhile to check out." Then he grinned, "I take it you're interested in reading?"  
"I really like my teenage romance comedies, what can I say?" He snorted at that, "I'm sure you'll find plenty in the bookstore. Plenty."  
Arbit returned, "When you're up to it, find Renji... I know you might be hesitant but even if we give you a library of information, it still doesn't trump experience in this world. So in the long run contact and exchange with that group is a must."

Renji… I'll be honest I didn't like that guy. I also don't think he'd be an enemy unless we piss him off, but that doesn't mean I can see him being friends either. "And if you find that disappearing loner get in contact with him too,"  
That loner, Mr. Talks-a-lot? He set out by himself in the office and just disappeared, hat and all. Sure, if we cross paths with him again, I'll hit him up. Seemed like the pretty carefree type. "Another thing - and this is important - tell your group if you plan on meeting him. You're not alone in this task. Their opinion, even if they retract encourage to speak, communication is important."  
"You all right?" Manato asked to my side, "You've gone all quiet again. Seen this happen a few times to you before."

I turned my attention to Manato as Arbit faded in a fragment of thoughts. I think it's just a matter of time until Manato figures me out. He seemed like the type. "No, I'm fine really. Just sometimes when I think, I like to give my thoughts voices. You know, talk in different accents and all that." Yea, that's good enough. For all I knew, could very well be true.  
Actually, it totally couldn't. The voices knew things about this world I had no clue about. That's down right damnable proof they're something else entirely. "Hmmm. You're an odd one." He commented, but seemed to take my answer satisfactorily.  
"Hey, do you mind being my minion for a moment?" I asked innocently.  
"…. What do you want?" He asked,  
"Well if you have to ask, I want world domination, a harem of beautiful girls, more money then I could possibly spend, and food. Also, I really want to just drop by the bookstore and stay there for a few hours to toy with this." I said, pulling out my parchment. Manato grabbed it curiously, checking it over.

"Can't help you on the first three things, but we can work something out for the others. Is that your handwriting?" He asked and I just nodded.  
"Can't read your writing at all." He said flatly. That's surprising really. But if my theory was right… I stopped and reached into my bag for the ink and feathers. Turning the parchment over to the last bastion of free space, I handed it to Manato to graffiti all over it.  
"Write down something, in your language." He grinned at that, "I think I see where you're going with this SB." And then he did just that.

The language Manato wrote in was very odd to say the least. It looked like pictograms rather than letters, I couldn't see much of a pattern either. Almost all of them looked unique – on first glance. And he didn't write left to right – it was all vertical. Once he was done, he motioned me over and we both poured over the parchment. Then I asked him to read whatever he wrote out loud.  
"Sure, I just wrote a simple diary entry. It says… it says…" He frowned deeply at that. "I… I can't read it out loud. I know what it means, I know what the letters read, I just can't tell how I'm supposed to pronounce any of it." Now he looked really curious.

"It's weird isn't it?" I answered. "Same thing happen for me. Couldn't tell heads or tails on how to read out loud anything I wrote down… and no, I don't know what animal I'm talking about with that…" Plenty of things popped up with a head and a tail, but none of them _felt_ right. I gave up quickly, just more things from my past life bugging me. At this point, it was more annoying than mysterious. "Anyhow - My theory is that when we appeared in this world – whatever language we learned was just… _replaced_ with the common around here. But whatever did that didn't do the same with writing and reading."  
"That makes sense. That why you're trying to learn how to read? Think it might tell you more about where we're from or how to get back there?"

"Maybe. At least, I've convinced myself learning to read is the first thing I should do. Been on my mind for a while now too."  
"Right. Let's go to that bookshop."  
"Yea, thanks. You can drop me off there and keep looking around town while I study. Where do we want to meet?"  
"Let say at sundown, meet at the inn Kate told us about. The one for Crimson Moon, it should have the cheapest rent. I'll bring the rest of the group too."  
"You know," He said while we stopped to let a carriage pass ahead of us. "I've known you for less than a full day, but I feel like you're one of my first friends. Somehow, feels like we've been through a war together almost."  
"I feel the same way my friend. Don't get the vibe I'm your first friend though. You're easy enough to get along and you're not planning on stabbing me in the back. What more could I ask for?"  
"I get the feeling… That I wasn't the type of person that had a lot of friends. Wherever we're from."  
"Well that was then, and this is now." I answered without caring much. I don't know where this self-pity came from, but I didn't like it hanging around Manato.  
He nodded and we walked on without much more discussion between us.

With a plan set, it didn't take long for us to reach the bookstore in good spirits. Back in the potion shop, I went from feeling fine to feeling just… cold. Like I'd suddenly become depressed. Moving around town and getting things done was slowly bringing me back. But it only gave me a lot of questions on the whole thing.  
The bookstore was a tiny place like Manato had told me. Maybe this world didn't even have a library.  
The store owner was also a living stereotype. If the potions shop had an old hag, then the bookstore had to have a living fossil. He even had the typical glasses too, a classic must have for the wizard. At least he wasn't yelling at me to get off his lawn. Instead he seemed delighted that I'd shown up. "Hehehe, Crimson Moon huh? And by the looked on your face boy, I'd say you're still just a trainee! Must be certainly wise mind in that head of yours to have come here of all places."  
"That's what all the stores say whenever they've got someone with money walking through their doors. Butter me up huh?"  
"I prefer jam myself." Then he laughed with mirth. "Come in, come in! I assume you're looking for a bestiary?" He'd already dragged a rather large book off a shelf. "Or maybe an adventurer's log?" Moving faster than I thought even possible, he'd already drawn out another book off the shelf. Then he stopped immediately. "Or perhaps, you're after a spellbook? Ohh, ambitious aren't you boy? Ha! Young people these days, thousand energies and all the time to use it."

 _No old man, I'm here for your how-to-get-rich-quick-for-dummies books._ Like that could exist in this world huh?  
"Right now, I don't even know how to read." That stopped him in his tracks. But I had a plan, oh yes.  
"Could you help me to learn? See, if I knew how to read, I'd definitely be a customer after." I asked in my most innocent voice. He thought for a moment, then shrugged.  
"Look around you boy, see anyone else in the shop?" He asked. And no, not a one.  
"It's quite boring alone when you've already read every book," Then he cackled and put on hand on my shoulders. "Teaching you to read would certainly be interesting. Crimson Moon are odd fellows, few of them ever bother genuinely learning to read – they only learn enough to get by. A pity, there's quite a lot of ways to kill monsters that don't involve stabbing it with something. A sharp mind is a weapon too often ignored…"

His name was Heniken. He was actually retired too, and just tended his bookshop out of a hobby. The smell of books and being surrounded by them felt soothing to him. Hours passed by and I followed closely with his lecture. Bri had been correct, learning to read and write wasn't difficult. It felt like all the connections were there too, just not yet bridged.  
I actually ended up _making_ money too. Get this, Heniken was fascinated by the different language I used when I explained to him my theory – writing the English alphabet along with a few pages worth of specific sentences on blank parchment was sold to him for 50 capas. He also said he'd be willing to buy the same from Manato, and anyone else who had something other than English to show.

I told him a lot about my suspicions on being from another world, and everything that came with that baggage. In return, he told me the power of books.  
There's quite a lot of research on the monsters that prowl the frontier. A lot of it won't help in combat, but there's a good portion that can. For example, zombies and the undead cannot pass by running water – such a symbol is too close to the river of death that they've escaped from. Anytime you've got problems with the undead, find a river. They will be unable to follow.

That's not all. Even rituals and the like could be used. Perform a certain rite on land, and it will be consecrated. When the dead walk across it unsuspectingly, they will be purified immediately. The same ritual done to a different god would force the undead to be thralls on your command. Silver weapons were an interesting topic too. A lot of monsters out there had a severe reaction to silver – especially spirits. Symbols of the gods, made in silver, could outright destroy specters and the like by contact. Plants, what could be eaten, what couldn't be eaten, what would kill one species and drug another into blissful sleep. There was a full article on a mushroom it's uses against certain hostile wildlife, turning them completely docile and semi-trainable too. Was pretty darn fascinating to be honest. I could read for ages and still never know everything humans had figured out on the frontier.

This all came from the bestiary he'd shown me earlier. It even had an entire three pages dedicated to just goblins, the weakest of all critters around here. So more interesting enemies could have as many as eight pages describing their quirks in detail. That said, the textbook was pretty huge and just as expensive. Four full silver to get it off the shelves and into my backpack. Something about expensive textbooks felt familiar… Near the end of the lessons, I was mostly just reading by myself now and asking Heniken odd questions on specific words and idioms. That's when the rest of the gang showed up again.

 _"_ _S.B."_ Spectrum appeared to my right. Well, not really appeared. I only got a feeling they were standing right behind me, along with a slight mental image of what they might be doing. Beta for example always felt like he was floating on his back, relaxed with his legs crossed too. _"_ _I'm going to demand you at least meet with the Priest in the ad later, at bare minimum to see if it is who I think it is."_ Pushy today aren't ya? _"_ _If it is, you MUST recruit them and yes, I even have legitimate reasons for suggesting so."_ He said while calmly pushing up those imaginary glasses I keep seeing him with. Heh. _"_ _Even if Manato is mulling over going Priest, that's still going to be one healer for what sounds like a party of 6, 7 if Mogzo trickles back in. That's a pretty thin margin, doubly so when you when think about how Manato is too brave for his own good and will probably end up being a MELEE PRIEST and declared intent to eventually go Paladin. Having another healer as backup, especially if they tend to be more rearline (and can hopefully teach him some lessons to keep him alive) will be pretty valuable."_

All in all, our resident strategist made a good point I think. We didn't have to kill things fast, we just had to kill things safely. Two healers had no drawbacks. And with a group our size, we'd need to hunt a lot more than just one goblin a day to make ends meet for everyone probably. I could see week long excursions around the frontier. We'd need a good support base to keep us going. Beta showed up again, this time looking for trouble. _"_ _Spectrum's waifu is named Mary: female priest, veteran, blue hair maybe, can't keep with a party for shit since her first party wiped."_ I could feel Spectrum in the background glaring at that. _"_ _Still, she is experienced and quite good at her job. Also, Spectrum really likes her, and he has made it clear he'll be mad if the rest of us prevent her from being recruited."_

The priest from the parchment is named Mary? Spectrum and Mary, sittin' in a tree… K. I. S. S. _"_ _I can still sense how you think, so watch how you refer to me."_  
Shutting up now.  
Spectrum leveled a quick glare in my direction, before Beta brought attention back to him. " _Just... keep that in mind. I don't particularly object to trying to recruit her, as she is a competent party member, but well, the hardest part will be convincing the party they need a second priest._

 _Worst case, just tell Manato one of the voices in your head will go mad if she isn't recruited." Ha. Ha. Very funny._ He snickered at that though, which quickly stopped once I felt Spectrum replace his glasses with a knife. _  
_Beta took his queue to skedaddle. _"_ _You're doing well, though. Nice job!"_ And poof. Away he went. Can't blame him either. Something didn't make much sense though, she's a competent priest, but can't keep a group for shit? It's like an oxymoron. Anyhow, you leave Manato to me. Guy owes me a favor you know?

 _"_ _Trog here, don't got much to aid advice-wise or commentary-wise besides concurring with what's already been said."_ He shrugged nonchalantly. _"_ _Mostly; Spectrum makes a good point about securing two medics in a group as big as yours, but don't think the priest asking for help is your only option."  
_ Spectrum only cleaned his knife, you know, _totally_ non-passive aggressive like. It was adorable.

I mean LOOK AT ALL THE BOOKS HERE. **WOW.**

Trog got his attention again, _"_ _Hey now, you're allowed to push for your wifu all you want; but I'm only gonna push for it if SB is interested in her romantically."_ He said, hands open in peace. Trogg, that's straight up NTR here! Behave!  
 _"_ _And to put it quite frankly, I only pointed out that there were other things he could do. I didn't state what they were or devalue your suggestion. What you offered is still the only defined suggestion out there currently."_ He's trolling Spectrum isn't he? Yep, 95% sure.  
 _"_ _She is a great person all around and our interest in her does not… have to be romantic."_ Spectrum answered back slightly sad at the thought. Oi! No one's stealing anyone's waifu while I'm around. And holy hell, again with the words I have no idea about. I need to keep a list. Waifu's probably wife, and I can't even begin to guess what NTR meant, but it seemed to fit perfectly here for some reason.

Trog shrugged at all that. _"_ _Fair enough; I'll save my judgement after we meet her."_ He turned his attention to me, _"_ _I'll start another test. If it works, don't mind the music."_ You're going to play music? Why am I even asking, there's voices in my head. Of course they can play music if they want to.  
And that's exactly what I heard too. Except I suddenly realized I'd misheard Trogg this entire time. You're a woman?! His – I mean her - vocals went into accompanying music rather well, was good to listen to. Eerie, but very calming too. Especially in a tiny bookstore like this one. Overall, 10/10 would recommend.  
That said, I felt like there was some far off entity out there that would quickly squish any attempt to abuse this for stat points besides the occasional use as a trump card. I mean… what?  
Then Trogg asked me something truly interesting. "Anyway, think up a list of what questions you want me to answer and I'll do my best to fill you in. I did promise to answer you after all." Oh Trog, you know just what to say huh? Can't believe I thought you were a guy all this time!

And boy do I have things. I've got a laundry list and my poor recruitment paper can't handle it. Besides, that's our link to Mary and Spectrum would be pissed if I wrote over her paragraph. You know it's handwritten right? There's probably a few others, but it must have taken her some effort to write each one. She must have poured time into it, imagine that beautiful blue hair tumbling down over the paper as she carefully put her desperate plea in guarded words. Wondering if _this_ paper would be the one - the one that would lead her to the group she'd be truly happy in - Only to have it completely erased coldly by the evil SB. All her hopes and dreams that some group out there will finally take that poor maiden in, one lette- shutting up now. No please, put the knife away! Spec, baby, com'on we can talk this over right? It's just a joke! I swear! AkkkkK!

On that list, I'll have to consider it further – there's a lot anywhere from "Who the flying fuck are you people?!" to "What's your favorite colors? Because I don't associate with filthy _aquamarine_ lovers" But - the one question I really want answered above all right now is this: What happened in the potions shop? I felt like there was ice in my head for lack of a better way to describe it. Then completely wiped out physically, tired, aches, and the worst cramp on my calf – ever. Not to mention I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart or something. And that black cloud followed me for a few hours after, unlike the cramp.  
Something definitely happened, and I know you clever bastards were involved in it! Especially after that hide-and-seek episode where none of you made a single sound until we ran into Kate.  
If you knew all about Kate already, why didn't you tell me the moment I set foot on the market place?

No answer came, but I didn't expect it to. One does not simply call on the voices in his head.  
Except I was happily proved wrong not even a minute later.  
You know, sometimes it's better to just not know why things are. Curiosity killed the cat and all. Except it really did kill me once. I'll get to that in a second.  
They were quiet for a moment after I asked the question. Like I'd expected, it was a heavy one. The oldest voice started out first, _"Okay, somewhen else, you might have died when one of those making Kate help with their scam fucked up and accidentally stabbed you fatally."_ I just took a double take on that. What? Might have died?

 _"I'm not really sure how the hell it works, and I really don't want to experiment with stuff like that."_  
He concluded and disappeared quickly after, leaving me floored with the knowledge. I honestly was not sure what to make of that, at all. What the hell does that mean? Beta showed up in answer, _"Well, to put it simply, in a false timeline, you and Manato went into the alleyway where Albedo kills Manato, and you get executed a bit later to tie up loose ends."_ Oh that explains it. How the fuck do you guys get to explore alternate timelines again? Beta shrugged. _"If it makes you feel any better, Kate was freaking out and definitely did not sign up for murder. Otherwise, I would have pushed for something a bit less... nice."_

The oldest had no idea how it worked, and he also didn't want to go exploring why either. Somehow the voices in my head managed to see into one possible future and snapped back to warn me of it. That's what I'm understanding. _"Like they said you didn't die. Think of it as a premonition, or high speed calculation of possible outcomes."_ Arbit said, patting my back empathetically. I just rubbed my temples all the harder. It's just so… hard to believe that it's easy to believe it – if that makes sense. I guess not having any memory on the dying part makes all this just simple to take and move on. I've seen stranger things so far, like voices in my heading knowing all sorts of stuff I definitely didn't know myself. Finding out they can see into the future came more like an extra here.

Trog and Spectrum showed up then, with a chilling revelation – Trog wasn't a Troggette, she'd – or rather he'd just swiped music he remembered and played it in my head. Also he was part of the lightish-purple master race, but we don't talk about that in civilized company. But I disgress. I had asked Trog what happened in the potions shop and the rest of the gang blew up on their thoughts. I got the full and detailed story from him.

 _"As for the potions shop?"_ He began, _"The result of a misplaced trust and bad decisions; and of course we were involved in it: we're involved in anything you're involved in. There's no way we can't be."_ He glanced at the rest of the assembled crew. _"The silence was us dealing with the backlash of Our fuckup; and when I say Our I mean all of us: you, me, spectrum, arbit, everyone of us, we all fucked up here."_

That's when I got the final piece of this blasted puzzle: _"Simply put, you know that scheme we tipped you off to just now? Well we didn't know about it the first time around. Yes, that's right, I didn't stutter: the first time around. Don't worry too much. This was the second time around."_ They hadn't seen into the future – they'd lived through exactly did it happen? I thought. And he answered.

 _"The decision was Unanimous: Go after Manato and save the girl. It was a trap of course; some of us had suspicions, but none of us were willing to let them get in the way of things. Nobody here wanted deal with the possibility of it being real and not helping...not stopping a mugging or rape when it happens infront of you? Horrendous."_ He paced around, everyone was quiet including me.  
 _"So we went, and Manato couldn't reconcile the fact that it was a trap. He was still stuck seeing the man as the Big Bad Guy. He didn't stop after weapons were pulled and threats were given, he was killed. They couldn't have us getting away and informing the Crimson Moon of a murder, so they killed us too."_ I gulped. It wasn't just an alternate timeline, if what I was thinking was right – **I** was in the alternate timeline.  
 _"Yes, you died; we started to slip with you. And then the world shifted and we were back, back at the potion shop. You felt the Touch of Death as your mind blurred the new traumatic memory and your body quaked with the phantom sensations of dying again."_ He'd told me before I should probably sit down for this, and just like predicted I did feel like a weight had been lifted. Everything at least made sense on how everyone knew everything.

 _"As for us voices? We needed time to recover from dying. Just like you did. So yes, that's what happened. I'm sorry."_ He finished sincerely. What's to be sorry about anyhow? From the looks of things, alternate me, or rather the original me was convinced enough to go with that plan. That I died along with the rest of you just makes it my fault as much as anyone's.

So why did I feel like crap all of a sudden in the potions shop? Did death really just blur things together between the original SB and the me from this reality?  
Spectrum came around with an answer to that particular inconsistency. Or at least, as far as he could understand it.  
 _"You know SB, how pain is nature's way of telling you that you did something wrong? Consider your experience in the potion shop a more advanced version of that. A brief glimpse into an alternate timeline where something happened to cause your death...but we retain knowledge of it."_ He was introspective for a moment, as if considering future possibilities. _"If you ever feel horrible again and we start telling you to do what sounds like strange things, that would likely be the culprit."_ I gulped at that, if the implications were true – there could definitely be parts in the future where I might die again.

Spectrum on his part was all business, but I could feel actual regret in his voice on how things turned out in that … original timeline? I can't say I feel too bad about it myself, since I can't remember a thing other than snippets of lines the gang had told me during those few minutes in the alternate timeline. If I think about it rationally, this is all much better than nothing. If I didn't have the voices in my head, I'd have run into that alleyway and gotten killed – then the story would be over for me. Any second, third, fourth, ect chances I get are that much better then I should have ever gotten. Everyone else lives once, apparently I get to say fuck you to that with only physical consequences. I do imagine 'dying' multiple times over might make things… erm difficult.

But I'd never really suffer from that myself would I? As far as I walked around, from my perspective I'd always see the last 'world' – the successful one. Any other, I'd have already died in it. But the voices on the other hand would witness every single death, and everyone else's deaths too, not just my own. I felt a lot more worried for them than I did for myself, that's some seriously fucked up shit there. Considering how composed the rest of them were, I didn't know if they were being strong to keep appearances or if they really saw the world differently than I did. While I was thinking this, the rest were gossiping among each other in low voices. I'd have picked it up if I was paying more attention, but it's not like I'm going to barge into them now about failing my eavesdropping check.

By the time I walked out of the bookstore, it was twilight, which meant Manato and the others would be waiting for me at the inn by now. So I made my way down there. Only had to ask about five people on the way. The inn itself was cheap since there was an overflow of us. We'd need to share rooms like sardines, which lowered the price reasonably between all of us. Two rooms of four bunks cost us all a group fee of fourty capas, twenty for each room a night, which wasn't that much more than the fair value. Once we filled all the bunks, the price from each of us was more affordable.

The better part of the deal was that this inn allowed Crimson Moon members free stay if they were official members – not trainees. So getting our badges would help us save a lot of money in the long run. The Crimson Moon was a large worldwide branch, and inns like these were just part of the superstructure. With the membership, we would be able to explore much of the world without having to worry about being able to find a spot to sleep. Best part was the inn had a bathhouse, (tiny thing sure, but still) and a good amount of communal food stocked up so long as we paid a fair share and didn't abuse it.

I met up with the rest of the team without a hitch. Our first discussion as a _team_ was who would go into what training. Ranta was dead set on a warrior, straight up inturupting everything just to shout out how amazing he'd do as a warrior. Punk even called me out and said I'd be better hiding in the backlines as a mage instead. Then I continued over the possible jobs, and dread knight came up. Fastest turnabout I've ever seen. Yume was interested in hunter, Shihoru wanted to be a support priest, except that was swipped up by Manato who wanted to join the priests guild for the eventual class change to paladin. Her second option didn't bother anyone, mage it was. We needed a warrior, and that's what I volunteered. I could try learning a secondary class later, I had the money after all. Sure, it was frowned on and someone with two classes under his belt could never be as a good as a purist who'd spent his life on only one class – but I have fucking voices in my head, so being looked down on is irrelevant. I'll do as I please. That's when I brought up Mary the priest to the group.  
"See, I've had this recruitment parchment with me for a while now," I said, pulling up the mangled remains of the paper in question. It had graffiti all over it. "It's for a priest who's been looking for a group. She's supposed to be rather famous among the locals here as someone who can never stay in one group for very long. Got it on good intel she's good at her job, not sure why she's been kicked out of so many groups – but I say an extra healer is worth it's salt."  
Manato raised an eye but didn't contest. Ranta though was all over me in a moment. "Another person?! Fuck that! That just means we'll have to share my loot even more you know! If you wanna bring her on SB, then you share your loot with her! But don't ask anything from me!"  
"Ranta…" Haru glared for a moment, but Manato cut him off. "You know, our group's gotten pretty big. If we fought, we'd need to attack a lot of monsters out in the field just to break even."  
I saw where he was going with this.  
"Right, early on we want to get experience just surviving out here. We should split our team into two and go separate directions."  
"Ha? Fine. I'm on SB's team since he's going to be a warrior, Don't worry - I'll take good care of you, so become a good shield for me! Be prepared to die for me, SB!" Ranta threw out cockily.  
"That leaves the other team without a melee, assuming Haru goes thief…" Haru nodded quickly at that. The girls on the side just had no idea what we were discussing, Yume was probably daydreaming come to think of it. She had that drooling face when we told her hunters could have pets like wolves and other monsters.

"Who gives a crap? So long as I live, then there's no problem. Besides, Haru's trash so no monsters would get near him anyway, too smelly."  
"You're the one to talk," Haru replied coldly at that.  
"Shut up, Haruhiro! How am I trash?! List the reasons! I dare you to list them!"  
"Really? Fine then. First of all—"  
"Quit it! You actually keep a numbered list of a person's bad points? That's a trashy thing to do! You're the one who's trash!"  
"Wow. Being called trash by trash, that's super insulting…" Haru was grinding his teeth, and I was starting to think keeping Ranta around might not be a good idea.

Then I had a better idea.  
"Ranta, you wanted to be a dread knight right?"  
"Of course! I'm going to be the most badass dread knight in all the world! They'll be singing tales and throwing themselves at my feet! They'll call me Ranta the dread! Or Lord Ranta!"  
"Well, you wouldn't really be doing a service for that dream of yours hiding behind my skirt like a woman."  
"What did you say?! I don't need to hide behind you SB! You're going to be the one yelling for me to come save you, that's a fact!"  
"See, so if you want to be a badass dread knight and all, wouldn't it be cooler to be right up in the enemies face with that evil grin and everything, in the thick of the fight?"  
"Yea, you get it! I thought you were also trash, but I guess you're only half-trash. You can be in my party, I'll let you in."  
"Naw, I'll be in the second party. But the first one will be lacking a melee champion. If you want to be a badass dread knight throwing themselves into the fight and scaring off the enemies, you need to have a party behind you that you're protecting – that's like, double cool you know?"

Ranta shut up then. He looked right in my eyes with suspicion. "You're trying to trick me and I don't like it! Nope, you can't out-wit me, I'm the king of wit! People sing songs on how smart I am!" Geh. Worth a shot. "You sure? I mean it'd be pretty lame to just stick to one group because you're shaking in your boots."Ranta glared at me with open hostility. "I see what you're trying to do SB! You don't want to be my meat shield because you're just a coward and afraid you'll get stabbed like a meat shield should!"  
"Uhhh that's kinda the point, I'm not a big fan of getting stabbed. I think not-getting-stabbed should be plan A."  
"No you retard! That's exactly what a tank should be doing! You go up to the enemy and get stabbed in the face so I don't have to! Then I kill the enemy while they're busy attacking you! See how it works?! It's just the way of life around here."

No argument on that, but without someone that could take a few hits in the other group, it was a bust for the two party idea. I opened my mouth to try and convince him some more, but the oldest voice in my head threw out a quick quip. _"Even if you convinced him now, it wouldn't matter since he'd just be obstinate again a week from now after your training is finished anyway."_ Point taken.  
"Fine, let's drop it for now. I don't think we'll be able to split into two groups at the moment,"  
"I… I think that's a better idea." Shihoru whispered in the back, "… Staying together."  
I looked to Manato for help, but he just shrugged. "Sorry SB, I tried." Guess that's that.  
"We can revisit your idea after we get an idea of what fighting's like in a big group – even if we don't make money the first few days, I think it will turn out okay." I shrugged too, "Yea, you're right. Well, now that we've got a plan of action, let's go to sleep on it and head out to the guilds tomorrow." Resounding nods around the table.

Twenty capas for a room of four was pretty good. We bought two, one for the girls and one for the guys. Beds were terrible too, straw all over the place which I could already tell would be itchy as fuck if I didn't plan for it. Good thing the cloak I had was large enough to insulate me from that nastiness. By the end of the day, we were all too tired to do much more. Even Manato who'd wanted to visit Sherry's tavern decided to skip out and do it after training. Laying down and staring at the ceiling, I'd like to say sleep overtook me quickly but instead of falling asleep, I had company.

 _"Spectrum here~ Dossier time, again, two for one special~"_ I felt the familiar voice to the side of the bunk. He seemed in a great mood and I could almost visualize two folders in his hands and a clipboard to keep it all straight.  
Lay it on me, I thought, moving across the bedding to recover my new journal and pen. I noticed with a chuckle Manato was writing his own entry on the other side of the room. _"Yume is indeed daydreaming about her some day in the future Hunter pet and this was the main motivation for choosing the class."_ Spectrum began, all business now. _"The problem, unfortunately, is that starting out she's going to turn out to be utterly pants at shooting her bow and so you're going to be getting a mediocre melee dps role out of her until she gets some levels under her belt."_ I could feel him wagging a pen in my direction _, "Even then she'll still end up mostly in melee. Hurray for the melee huntard~ ...well, it's not like she doesn't have her good points."_

Melee hundard huh. Well, so long as she's not looting the plate gear, I think I'm ok with that setup. Thinking about that scatterbrained girl, I could see her accidentally hitting her own team with that bow and arrow. I hope she doesn't hurt herself going melee. She seemed like a nice person. I don't know that much more about her so far, the only one I've really spent any time with is Manato.  
 _"She generally will also contribute to keeping party morale up (intentionally or otherwise), between her cutesy behavior and her pretty consistent flubbing of vocabulary."_ Then with a complete straight face he continued, _"Also, she's rather decent looking when she lets her hair down out of her braid, though you'd not expect it."_  
Good looking with her hair down, I jotted in English on my journal without much thought. Then I raised my eyebrow. Oh you!  
The neat thing about the language problem is that I'm pretty much writing in code here – and really hard to break code since it's an entirely 'new' language. I could write whatever I pleased. Handy use of the situation I thought.

Spectrum shifted to the second document, the more … ahh 'controversial' teammate. _"Ranta is...special."_ He said taking a moment to find the right word for it. Special my ass, the guy's a complete child. If he wasn't part of our group, he'd probably get himself killed in the first day. Wait a sec. Didn't we technically get killed in the first day too? Welp, I'm the pot calling the kettle black.

 _"In the interests of trying to be as unbiased as possible, I'll say he does have his good parts. (Somewhere. Deep down.) He's a brave fighter in his own peculiar way. Unfortunately, he's not a particularly talented one at the start, though he's willing to work at it."_ I felt him flip a paper on the clipboard _. "Personality wise, he's unfortunately very much a kid."_ Understatement of the century here. You're talking about a person who picked his job just because it sounded cool!  
 _"I would probably say he has self-esteem problems and needs people paying attention to him, and he'll cause problems for leaders who aren't strong enough. As for whether his utility as a fighter outweighs all the headaches he causes?"_ Clipboard set down, Spectrum took a moment to tally up the points. _"Juuuuuuust barely,"_ He said. _"But either way he's what you've got to work with."_

And just like that, Spectrum disappeared. I had a thought then, they often said they'd talk in pre-recorded messages. Does that mean they're really just voices and it's my mind making up how they sound and what they 'do' while they're active around me? Or are they really fully realized entities that just haven't passed through to becoming a visual hallucination yet. Could it get to that point? I get a feeling if anyone can figure that stunt out, it'll be Trogg. I can't deny they've slowly become more and more animated as time passed. Beta lazily showed up then, _"I'll be honest; besides Manato, don't expect much from the rest of them. Hell, we don't even know your own talent level."_ He said with a chuckle. Wait – technically you should, I thought. I did go down fighting in the alleyway right? I don't really know how to fight yet, but I'm pretty sure I didn't just die like a dog in the streets. I had to throw a few punches and kicks before getting beat down. I did literally fight to the death after all. That should be a good enough gage.

Beta just rolled over it, unhearing. Right, pre-recorded messages. _"Since it seems you're going warrior, I'll suggest focusing on that rather than trying to multiclass; as the main tank, you'll probably have your funds tied up with stuff like armor, which will be more expensive than regular clothes/lighter armor."_ Noted down. I suppose this will be the last night to decide on what job to go, but so far it's been warrior with shield ever since beta suggested it. None of the other voices mentioned anything other than researching more options. Ultimately, there's just a few guilds here. If it wasn't warrior it'd have been another basic class.  
Spectrum nudged Beta then, _"We~ll,"_ He stated lightly, _"There is another warrior that will probably shake loose after their training finishes as well. They should grab him and that'll give impetus for a dual party again, if they want to run it that way."_

Another Mary? I thought about who they were talking about, but it could be anyone when it came to the voices. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew some legendary warrior from the other side of the continent and exactly how to recruit them.  
Beta didn't seem too phased by Spectrum, _"Get a big shield and a lance and it's not too difficult to become a basically competent front liner from there. I mean, you definitely could argue for the others to help expense your gear, since the tank is a pretty critical party role, but since you have the money..."_ He shrugged. Are you implying that I'm filthy rich for a newbie? Because you're totally right. And it's all mine, **mine**!

 _"My thoughts on the party thing,"_ Beta continued while I pet my internal greedy pig. Oh right, that idea was pretty unpopular with everyone in the team meet.  
 _"While there is safety in numbers, combat also becomes much more hectic with more people. You'll need to watch out more for friendly fire. Also, most of the people there will be pretty incompetent at fighting for a long time; Manato will be taxed carrying the group."_ Beta, my old pal, you're on my side for this? Yessssss at least someone doesn't think I'm a total idiot.  
 _"The problem will be that it'll split SB from Manato and no one will be able to keep him from overextending..."_ Spectrum posed the logical counter-example. _"Running 8 is arguably fine until they go underground, even then it's workable."_  
Abrit nodded at that, _"I agree with Spectrum and suggest ditching the two party setup till later. Survival by numbers for now - especially when you're still green."_ Wait. When did you show up?! Have you been here the whole time? Ninja. Arbit only grinned, continuing on. _"And it's a good way to see all your group's habits in the battleground, the good and the bad. So you can either fix that or find a good tactic to cover it."_

Sorry Beta, I think we've gotten overruled and schooled for the most part. Hell, chances are Mary's in a group right now too. She floats around a lot, but how long are those windows of time when she's not employed. We'd need to wait for her to get kicked out before starting and that's time we can't afford.  
Wow that was really cold hearted of me wasn't it? _Let's just hope that priest hurries up and gets flunked out of her group already._ Honest, I haven't met Mary yet, but from what I know of her: She's a skilled healer and she's spent effort learning to write just to create handwritten recruitment fliers – that tells me she's at least disciplined and dedicated to making it out in this world. It seems pretty criminal for such a hard working person to keep having to play musical chairs for any group.

Beta shrugged _, "Be sure to start waking up early and starting the day with a good workout. Get fit and practice hard during training; don't be another dead weight for Manato to carry."_  
Well fine, I guess I'll lay off the donuts and pizza for a few hours, but just because you asked nicely… I have a real pang of regret not knowing what either of these things are.

I still wrote them down on my journal under my list of words I've used unintentionally with no understanding. But out of all of them, Cookie, Donuts, Pizza and Pancakes were all on the top of my personal list, maybe they were general favorites? I think if I've got a big enough list it'll trigger some sort of memory return. Or at least, if they're on paper then the years here won't erase these things from my memory. Somehow, I also get the feeling I wasn't a terribly healthy person, but I can't quite put why. I didn't look bad in the mirror at least. That's when Arbit opened his mouth and ended it with a straight up gift: What the hell a pancake was. I'll get to that in a second, he had quite a lot of things he wanted off his chest before we reached glorious pancakes.

 _"On another thing try pitching the idea of them carrying a journal and pen to get info for the party."_ He said, pacing around the bed. Manato wouldn't even need any convincing; the man already had his own set. Yume… I could see her keeping a diary at the start, and then having it turn into a mess of cute animal doodles instead. Our mage rookie might be serious enough for it. I can't even imagine Ranta would touch a featherpen, let alone the thought of spending his money on that. Straight up alien.  
 _"Each guild might be knowledgeable on different thing, like priest guild on curing poison or injury without the use of magic. Exorcism and undead to demonic creature or the magic guilds about magical ingredients and artifacts. Ask if they're a focus or conduit! Other than a staff or grimoire like rings or bangles and about magical beast. Hunter guild on foraging or hunting grounds where you sell your catch to butchering survival things. Dread knights might know how to fight spirits to holy beast and thieves on poisons and disarming traps!"_ He took a pause, maybe to take a massive breath in between his thoughts. I managed to jot down all of it in quick notes. _"Maybe hidden info hubs, contemplate on introducing Kate to him! I'm kinda toying with a job class with a mount - like a rider class or something! Might be costly but good investment you can carry more supplies or loot, and in an emergency carry the injured to safety!"_

Welp, that filled half the page on my journal. All of it was good stuff too. Carrying loot back wasn't something I thought of, but if we do multi-day expeditions, we'd have to carry all our gear and food rations too, and carry anything we find back. Manato should keep people topped off healing wise I think, so we wouldn't have to carry anyone back – unless Manato was the one hurt.  
Oh. Now I see a good use for a double priest setup. Who heals the healer if we've only got one? Arbit nodded enthusiastically, then he took a dramatic pose, _"And finally dun! tun! dun! tun! bwaah!"_ He announced regally. _"Arbit-bit thirty nine's tidbits corner - Today is buying and breakfast profit!"_

I flipped to a new page, while he began.

It began with a clear drawing in my head of what looked like a yellow flower, Arbit would call it a dandelion. He wasn't super sure on the details, or if it could be poisionous in this world and advised me to do a bit of legwork in figuring it out. But it's uses as a highly nutritional drink with a bit of a cooking process. It's kinda amazing really. I did say Arbit had the day-to-day survival tips covered like a pro. Honestly, I had no idea where he pulled all this knowledge from. Then came the real meat: Magnificent pancake recipe **get**.  
I had no idea what they were 5 minutes ago, and when Arbit started explaining it was like the lock had been removed. Full details on exactly how to make them were provided by Arbit, while the unlocked memory let me remember the taste they had and everything. Was glorious.

 _"… Last thing - be careful of teas! There, they might put…. ahh ….'unsavory' extenders in that timeline that you don't want to know. Well till next time, this is Arbit on Arbit-bit thirty nine's tidbits corner!"_  
And poof he disappeared… What the hell are these 'unsavory' extenders he was referring to? I think I'm never going to be able to drink tea properly again. With Arbit's disappearance, I noticed the rest of the voices had also receded to the dull buzzing and mutterings in the background I had grown almost fond of now. I shut the journal, extinguished my candle and turned in for the day. Since I didn't have any night wear, I just settled for sleeping with all my gear on. Ok I lied. I was just too lazy to change.

The next day, I woke up only because Ranta shoved me off the bed. "WAKE UP YOU SON OF A BITCH! WAKE UP!"  
With groggy steps, I glared at him, but that only empowered him of course. "Get it? Get it?! SB? Son of a Bitch?" _This motherfucker_. "Ah, quit looking at me like that. It's not my fault you're too stupid to get the pun." He turned around, and was about to shove Haru off his bed too before I put a stop to that. Now that I was wide awake and on my feet, this brat was about to get a lesson about bringing a fat mouth to a knife fight.  
"Let's figure out a nicer way to wake people up, how about it Ranta?" I asked with a very friendly tone, while patting the dagger at my side. Ranta got the message real quick. Thank you for your donation Kate, It's coming into good use.  
"GAH S-sorry, I don't wanna fight you, you're just going to cheat with that! Hey! I said I'm sorry! Forgive me already!" He yelped with a jump and backpedaled hard as I advanced on him. Intimidation check, _successful_. I thought with a grin. But somehow, I got the feeling he totally wasn't sorry. I kinda wanted him to accept that challenge and go down fighting. I swear wouldn't stab him, much.

Eh, I'll let him go this time.

I settled on chasing him out of the room like a pest, go get ready for the day and whatnot. He fled quickly enough with only minor muttering. "If it was a fair fight I'd have beat you down SB…"  
"Not much of an incentive to fight fair now is it?" I shot out after him. Audible clinks of my dagger on metal shut up any retort from him. With that, I got to waking up Manato and Haru with two cups of ice cold water and a few well placed kicks for any stragglers who weren't getting with the program. With someone like Ranta around, I've got to assert my dominance and set an example early after all.

Just kidding. Gotcha.

I woke them up the normal way of course. Then we gathered in the lobby.  
"Well. This is it." Manato said, as we crowded around the communal kitchen. Early morning and the chill was only slightly beat by the stovetop. "Training is supposed to take seven days, so we'll see each other in a week if all goes well."  
"Yeah, yeah, let's get to becoming awesome already!" Ranta shouted, he was really pumped about today.  
Manato just smiled, Yume and her friend were still rubbing their eyes from the morning. Haru had a blank face like usual, and I can't say he had sleepy eyes since he's always had the just-woke-up look for the few hours I've known him.

I nodded at them all, grabbed my pack and prepared to leave. The rest filed after me and we slowly split ways down the road with no discussion, only waves as each person went their way. Manato and I had already briefed everyone on how to get to their respective guilds on the combined knowledge we got our hands on, so even Haru should be able to make his way without talking to a single person. Eventually, it was just Yume and I walking down the road to the outskirts of the town. The hunter's guild would be further down where the forest met the city walls, and the warrior's guild would have its own training grounds on the outskirts.

She seemed pretty happy, taking step after step with a bounce. "Excited about that wolf pet?" I asked, making small talk.  
"Um!" She answered back cheerfully, "Yume likes animals! They're so cute~yan!"  
I nodded, thinking. We walked a few more paces before I just decided working on what Spectrum had told me of her.  
"Don't know if I'll be a great warrior, but we've got seven days you know? If they teach me something I'm not good at, I'll just ask them to teach me something else instead of wasting a lot of time on it."  
"Oh, Yume thinks that's smart!" She energetically said.  
"Well, you can do it too. If you don't like bows and arrow, try asking for more training on your close combat skills, yea? A melee hunter's fine too, we'll be relying on you for scouting and keeping us alive in the forest with smarts."  
"Yume will definitely do her part! Definitely!" The girl confidentially declared, pumping her arms. I smiled at her enthusiasm. On my side, I was just a little nervous about all this.

You know, the biggest fear I've got so far about the whole 'having the voices warn me ahead of time if I die in the future' – what if it was just a fluke? Like, what if they slipped by death once, but now it knows what to watch out for and won't let the voices escape again? Arbit suggested being a merchant at one point. It's not really possible since the whole system is made so that we'd be forced to be expendable soldiers, but if we get successful enough… Maybe we might be able to start something safer?

"Good spirit, give it your best shot," I smiled at Yume. She was like a cute and adorable cat, all hyper and filled with that greedy glint in her eyes, thinking on the future.  
I'm not much of a glory hound like Ranta. Just staying alive is fine for me. Should be our goal, I thought. Get ourselves rolling, so that we can all retire doing something… _nicer_. She looked puzzled at me for a moment while I was thinking and I immediately froze. See - I'd reached out my hand and rubbed her head without even noticing. Damn. That's some charm humanoid skill she's got.  
"Err, sorry Yume." I said retracting my hand quickly. I was suddenly reminded on what Spectrum had told me about her hair, which absolutely didn't do anything to help at the moment.  
"mmh mhh," She looked down for a moment, and shook her head side to side, quickly forgiving me without a thought, "Yume liked that. Hm! Yume has discovered she likes getting pat on the head and praised," She giggled bubbly at that, "Also - you don't have to call Yume anything but 'Yume', okay?"

That's about the time I realized whenever I said someone's name, I sort of added a prefix to it every time. I hadn't called Yume that per say, but rather "Vav Yume" instead. My mind simply told me it was a formal way of denouncing someone as respectful equal/friend, but not quite just that. It had a more military connotation, like… comrade? Dropping that prefix was something only close friends or young children did. I hadn't even noticed it, it just phased into the background. Somehow, Yume had picked up on it though.  
"Ok, I'll praise you more – if you earn it." I grinned at her, then asked what was really on my mind. _If for me, it was invisible, then what was it for her?_ "Say, what did I call you before?"  
She titled her head confused, then said "Yume-s… Yume-sa… Sam? No that's not it. Yume can't remember, sorry!" She looked really confused. I prodded her for more info. "I didn't call you Vav Yume before?"  
She shook her head. "You did. Yume knows you did, but Yume heard it … differently?"  
"That's interesting." I muttered, considering. "I didn't even notice myself at all, till you asked."

We walked a bit more in silence while I brought up a mental list of all the prefixes. They came easily, and there were also post-fixes to, usually insulting or mocking. Calling someone's name followed by –gre meant they were a coward/cheat/weak-minded person for example. There were quite a list, not a long list, but a list of all these amendments to names. And I hadn't noticed it at all since I've arrived.  
I'd need to test this out with my team. Maybe other people could tell? I had been using it all this time on auto-pilot. Hell, now that I think about it, I've even addressed Ranta as Ranta–qweb this morning without realizing it. Qweb was meant as both a challenge and an assertion that the person would lose said challenge. No wonder he freaked out so badly. Qweb wasn't something you joked about either, it's pretty serious. It meant that you would back up your challenge.

Now that I think about it, since the moment I've set foot in this place, I have a habit of just narrating everything that's going on around me. And all that narration is… English? Fuck, I just had a huge migraine about all this. Voices, do you guys have an ideas what's this all about? You lot seem to know everything. No answer came beyond the usual mutterings. I shrugged and put it out of my mind for now. It was hurting my head to think about, so the logical conclusion is to stop thinking about it. A few minutes later, Yume waved at me, "Yume's going now S.B."  
She paused. "… Yume doesn't like S.B, it's not cute." The girl had a pout on her face.  
"Hey now, that hurts my poor innocent heart." I clutched my chest.  
She tittered at that, "No silly, Yume meant your name!" I just tilted my head to the side. Can't really change my name now can I? Except Yume couldn't care less about tiny rules like that.  
"I know! Yume's going to call you Sho Bato – Hmm! That's it! Sobato!"  
"Hey, don't I get a say on getting a nickname?"  
"No!" She pouted again.  
"…Ahh, Fine fine, I actually like that name too. It sort of … fits with all your names, makes me feel little less like an outsider." I answered truthfully. She bloomed into a smile then, turned on her heels and sprinted out on the fork to her guild. Spectrum had it right, that girl was a walking moral boost. I hadn't realized I was feeling a little ostracized from the group so far. I guess the combo of them talking and behaving slightly differently then I did along with different names had made me feel a bit of a foreigner to them.

Funny how the first one on one chat with Yume had ended up with a nickname for me right off the bat. Sobato... that didn't sound like my name, but I suppose it's 'prettier' then SB. I still can't quite guess what those initials stand for. I had a hunch it'd be more like Mary's name. Her name also didn't fit with my group, just like mine. Maybe Yume would make up a nickname for her too? Now it was just me and my lonesome now for the next ten minutes. Pretty soon I reached the warrior's guild without any problems.

And that's when things went to shit. His name was Richard, and for the low price of eight silver I'd get a personal taste of what hell would probably look like.


	6. Chapter 6

Richard. In the span of seven days, I have never felt the combination of unmitigated hatred, perpetual fear, grudging respect, and unwavering camaraderie all at the same time for the same person. And I thought I was already insane.

Introductions were short with that man. I walked into the courtyard and spotted a friendly face right there, being tortured.  
"Another three." The man spoke calmly, the sort of voice you instantly understood would never raise above a shout. Simply because shouting wasn't needed. The man methodically picked off Mogzo's form, using the flat end of a sword as a ruler, disciplining a bad student. "Pass your chin correctly or else. Another."  
Mogzo grunted deeply, drawing himself upwards again, chin passing the bar. Pull-ups weren't that bad, but Mogzo was doing them in full armor. With a broadsword on his back. Frankly, I was just shocked me managed to do one.

He completed his final set and collapsed on the ground. "Sword up, defend yourself." The trainer said, drawing up a wooden stick. He didn't wait for Mogzo to even get off the ground before he began wailing on him.  
In three hits, Mogzo had managed to scurry on his knees and draw out his sword, but couldn't even think on attacking. The wooden stick flew through the air, completely relentless. Strike after strike, Mogzo could only desperately parry. Anything that wasn't blocked by the sword looked like it _hurt_. Somehow, the trainer avoided every spot of metal armor Mogzo had, almost toying with him.

Mogzo had collapsed on his back, sword fumbled from his hand, now desperately blocking hits using his forearm guards. "Deflect." The trainer barked. "Don't absorb blows. Deflect them. Angle your defense, or you will regret it." Three more gut-wrenching hits and I heard a wet crack from Mogzo that made my hair stand up.  
It wasn't the wooden stick if you were thinking. Mogzo's left arm suddenly went limp, but the man couldn't even wimpier properly before the attacks continued. The wooden stick descended without mercy on the boy who had only his right forearm to protect himself.  
"Sloppy. Fifteen more. You'll break your remaining arm after seven if you don't deflect properly."  
Mogzo blocked another three desperately, and I could _feel_ sickening thuds after each. The fourth looked different, instead of stopping the blow, the wooden stick seemed to glide over the bracer and flew off to the side.  
"More angle, aim for the center to side. Push away as you deflect. Don't wait, anticipate." The trainer nodded, and resumed his onslaught.

Five more hits and the right arm broke. I was mesmerized by what I saw. The trainer simply looked down on the sprawled Mogzo without emotion. "Sijuku." He motioned to a group of men sitting across the courtyard. I hadn't noticed them at all. White clothing with blue stripes, one of the members stood up and simply muttered something from the distance. White light shined around him and I heard bone snapping in Mogzo as similar magic reached into the broken fellow. The man in white muttered something else quickly after and once more white light descended on my friend, replenishing his breath. Then the robbed man returned to sitting down among his fellows, absorbed in the scripture and other papers around the table.

The giant stood up, I didn't notice a trace of fatigue anymore. "Now, I'm going to teach you the basics of deflection – again." The trainer announced. "And this time, you will pay closer attention now that you know it'll be the difference between pain and survival."  
Mogzo only nodded feebly.  
"Stance." He barked, and Mogzo turned like a puppet putting his feet down and angling his shoulders.

One of the men in robes walked over to me, "I take it you're here to become a warrior?" He asked lightly.  
I gulped. It really didn't seem like a great idea right now. Why didn't we pick to be a mage again? I regret everything.  
"… Yeah. Yeah, that's what we decided." I mumbled.  
He looked lightly on as the trainer instructed Mogzo specifically.

"Deflecting has all the advantages and none of the detraction." The trainer said evenly. "Efficient in stamina use, efficient at keeping your gear in one piece, and you won't shatter your bones deflecting. Understood?" Mogzo nodded solemnly. The trainer then threw his stick at Mogzo, who only caught it by chance.  
"Attack me until you cannot even lift that stick. If you manage one hit, I will give you a short break. If you fail to do any damage by the time you can't even hold it anymore, I will break your ribs one at a time."  
Mogzo thought for a moment, then lunged at the trainer with the stick. Wide strikes that would definitely crush my own bones or cave my skull if they hit. The trainer on the other hand, seemed to swat them away with his forearms. I'm not even joking. Every swing, the trainer would move his bracers in its path, angle the arm and simply _push_ the swing away with a step backwards. Mogzo only increased his rate of attack, and that helped absolutely nothing.

"Well?" The priest asked next to me, "Have you changed your mind seeing this? Once you join the warrior's guild, there is no quitting during the training. It will hurt. Your body will be destroyed and healed every hour for the entirety of the day. I am not exaggerating as you can see. Richard is meticulous and efficient at conserving his energy. He does not tire and some even say he does not sleep either." The man winked at me.  
"I… I don't have a choice. It doesn't matter, I've got to do this." I swallowed.

In front of us, Mogzo was getting tired quickly. His heavy swings were costing him quickly. Each time the weapon was deflected, he'd take slightly longer to stop its momentum, and turn it around again. Richard, the trainer, said nothing and simply waited the next strike with practiced ease.

"You're either courageous, or a fool that will soon learn. But I suppose the world needs a bit of both. I am Lorenzo, an acolyte from the priest's guild. The scribes and I were sent here as part of our training. Here, we shall rotate to heal both you and Mogzo. I look forward to working with you." He bowed politely.  
I just nodded in return. "I'm SB. Nice to meet you too. I'm.. uh… looking forward to it?"  
That resulted in a raised eyebrow from him. "So you say." He said.

Another man walked over to us then, clad in metal armor. "You're another trainee?" He asked gruffly.  
"Yes." I practically squeaked. He gave me a solid look over, "I've been given worse before. Eight silver." He answered with an outstretched hand. I grudgingly gave him the silver from my bag. After that, he led me out of the courtyard, down the hall and into a garrison of sorts.  
"Unlike other training the guilds give, warrior training is different. For one, the priest's guild uses our guild to train their elites in continuous healing and rotation, a necessary skill for large scale fights. Second, Food is served every hour. Third, you will sleep only six hours, your days will start at night and end at night starting today. And fourth, you'll get half an hour each day in the bath. This is the only place you'll find peace, because you won't be safe from Richard even in your dreams." He opened the garrison doors, into a small row of bunks and trainee armor. "We take pride in our training, it's strictly superior to the army swine. You'll understand in time." He said, pointing at one of the beds made. Taking the clump of armor off it, he shoved it in my direction.

It smelled terrible. Like, never-washed-once terrible. "Once you have a crest of a warrior, you'll be able to find employment in any mercenary corps. That goes double for the longer you've had the crest for. You'll be drilled hard enough that you won't even have time to think. Understood?"  
I nodded, strapping on the items and dropping off my bag inside the chest at the foot of the bed.

"Good." He grunted as I put on the rest of the gear. "Heed Richard's every order, and you might survive."

 **-Day 1-**

Turns out, Mogzo had started the very day we arrived. Raghill had just tossed him here and that was that. I was one day late, so I'd be out a day after Mogzo was done. The situation didn't feel real until I took my first step and was formally introduced to Richard. "Let's get down to business." Richard simply said when I approached. That was that. We began immediately. It turns out in just that morning session, Mogzo had been healed five times over, and had broken more than twelve bones. In just a few hours. The day before numbered in the _hundreds_. I did _much, much worse.._

By the time night came I all but collapsed in the bath with Mogzo. See the worst thing about this whole training is the _healing_. The priests wouldn't just knit your bones back together, they'd sometimes cast a second spell right after that would restore your stamina, repair your muscles, and flush out any lingering toxins inside your system. Whatever it did, it got rid of any fatigue you had leaving you feeling like you'd just woke up in the morning. The price of that was food. Each time they used it, I felt like all the food in my stomach disappeared. If you didn't do a good enough job, it was possible to have that spell used on you as many as three times in a single hour. And that was painful. But the absolute worst thing about healing was that it meant you'd be about to get beat down again.

And you only get to eat at the end of every hour – never a second earlier. It made for a macro challenge where you'd try to survive till the food was served. Mogzo and I quickly developed a complete religion on food, and we were the fucking bishops of bread and beans.

The only moment I had to myself was the baths. It was communal too, which meant if there were any women warriors they'd be shuffled forward in the same baths as we were at the same time. Maybe this might alarm anyone else, but after a day here, I can't possibly imagine how anyone would do anything other than just bask in the warm water. I was convinced that the priests must be doing something to the bath waters too. Being clean became our therapy. It would become the light at the end of a very dark tunnel, the mark that one more day had passed. This place was sacrosanct ground to us. To think of doing anything other than float around was ridiculous, profanity at its highest. The gender issue never came up either, we were the only two trainees at the guild for now.

They also warned us when halftime came, so we'd know to actually go get clean before we'd be shuffled out. The first bath with Mogzo, we didn't even say a word to each other. It was like an understood agreement between us. The voices in my head, not so much. They'd tried to say something earlier in the day, but that completely and utterly failed. I couldn't hear jack squat over the sound of my own bones breaking.

At the baths, it was only Arbit that floated by for a moment, here to give me advice. And at that, one sentence. Apparently he'd shown up earlier but again – breaking bones has a tendency of deafening anything else. Except for Richard. You always heard Richard.

 _"_ _After the 7 days training look yourself at the mirror you might gain moral boost!"_  
There weren't any mirrors here though, I thought. I remembered the last time I got a good look at myself, I didn't have abs, muscles were pretty flimsy and I couldn't see much tone in them. I wasn't fat, but I wasn't skinny either. And Mogzo easily towered over me by a full head, also weighed twice me, probably.  
But Arbit had vanished after that word. The voices would float up every now and then, but if they didn't manage to land in that half hour of bath time, they might as well have been mute.

 **-Day 2-**

Yesterday was conditioning. I was running laps, doing pushups, curl ups, pull ups, every type of up you can think of. Anytime I'd start slacking off, Richard would appear with the wooden stick and break something. And for some god-forsaken reason, it was never the fucking stick that broke. Day two was different. This time, after conditioning in the morning, he walked me out and taught me the deflection tactic I'd seen on arrival. He took his time, pointing out footwork, proper stances to minimize effort, and how to spot enemy tells on where the blow would come from. Turns out, deflection isn't about seeing the weapon come down. It's mostly about predicting ahead of time – and not closing your eyes at all.

After a good hour, I knew the stance and proper technique. Then Richard had me do conditioning until I was dead tired. I dropped on the ground from the pull ups and glanced up. The madman had grabbed that wooden stick non-chalantly while I felt a tinge of fear drown down my spine.  
"Normally," He said in that calm voice he always had, "This would be the part where the recruit would buckle under the pressure, forget the training I just gave, and painfully regret it. You're tired, and you cannot hope to block my hits with anything other than efficient defense – which I just so happened to teach you a moment ago. Then I would train them again once they had more appreciation. Considering you saw yesterday's demonstration, I hope you will be the odd recruit that transcends the typical."  
I gulped. "I hope so too," He didn't even give me time to get into a proper stance before his wooden stick flew at my face.

And damn did fear do something to me. I didn't bother drawing out my sword. Waving a giant sword in the air to block hits was going to tire whatever energy I had left immediately. Using my bracers was the only alternative. I dodged widely and managed to roll on my feet. He attacked and I deflected closely as he'd taught me. The next three gave me just enough time to clamp down my footwork and stance for the long haul. I noticed his strikes always paused a half second before attacking, giving me enough time to bridge the gap between predicting his hit and actually seeing it. It might seem like a short time, but it was long enough to think.

Every hit hurt of course, but some of the better deflections I've done felt like I was just brushing away something with vague mass.  
After fifteen minutes of this, he upped the pace, changing his timing and making it faster and faster. But I managed to keep up. And goddamn did if feel amazing. Sure, he was going easy, and I could tell his hits were meant to test my limits. But still – I was actually doing that deflection dance he showed yesterday. I was as swift as a coursing river.

Unlike Mogzo however, Richard didn't seem to tire. Every blow was just as quick and had the exact same force behind hit. Hits were methodical, ultimately I noticed he only did a series of seven different strikes, including a stab. Predicting them became easy and I got into the pattern on exactly where my bracers should be and what angle.

And they didn't slow down either, instead they only grew faster – and intentionally less methodical. I had to switch from reflexes to seeing. I'd predict the general direction of the strike, then I'd watch for the actual path of the stick to see how I should deflect it precisely. It was a lot harder than it seemed, especially since he began to fluctuate that second part. Eventually, there wasn't any more handicap in his hits. That's when I broke down slowly. Each hit was only desperately deflected and became sloppy too. My footwork broke as he pressed his attack, forcing me to run backwards rather than just step. A few of his strikes were outright painfully blocked instead. A good five more minutes of this, and I'd be a broken heap on the ground. But it never got to that point because the moment the food bell rung his wooden stick literally went motionless in midair and its owner gave me the first slight smile I've ever seen on his face. Richard was many things, but one thing I was certain is he was born without a smile. It was like my worldview had been shattered.  
"Ten minutes. Go eat." He grunted. But it felt like there was some faint approval behind it.

In the baths, Mogzo just patted my back with a grunt. _Good job. That was impressive._ He said in that moment. I looked back at him and half shrugged half nodded. _Yea, I'm surprised myself but happy._ Once more, like tradition there wasn't a single word between us as we just dove belly first into the baths and went floating around like the dead until we absolutely had to take a breath of air. When we were shuffled out, one of the priests had smuggled two bottles of cold milk for us to drink. He said some Crimson moon members oddly liked that combination. Mogzo took to it like a dying man on driftwood.

 **-Day 3-**

This was when things became interesting. Richard did the usual routine at the start for two hours, ending with us on a dead sprint while a hunter unleashed his pet wolf to chase us. And yes, it would maul us if it caught us. We were however, allowed to fight back. It didn't help much, but at least we didn't just stand there getting chunks ripped off of us.

Once the morning torture was done with, he sat Mogzo down while I continued the training with the adorable wolf and its three hundred sharp teeth. I might be exaggerating, but it certainly felt like that if he gave you a love nibble. Later in the afternoon, Mogzo returned with a different set of armor then the trainees, and a much larger sword on his back. He would spend the day with Richard learning how to fight with that new equipment. Rest of the day went exactly like the previous one. It was getting easier - easier being relative of course - but by then I had gained the force of a great typhoon.

Never bothered asking Mogzo what Richard gave him. Bath time was sacred time - no gossiping. I'd find out myself tomorrow I suppose.

 **-Day 4-**

And then it was my turn to be sat down and talked to like Mogzo before me.  
"Now that your body has been strengthened enough, you're ready to learn your first skill." Richard calmly told me.  
"Warrior discipline is split into many different paths and roles in combat. Traditionally, we are the front line of defense and keep the enemy at our doorsteps, away from the real threats our teammates offer. As warriors however, we may do much more than just this." I nodded at attention. "It's my job to let you pick your path, and then teach you the start. It will be your duty to follow through on your own time and continue that path. Understood?"  
I nodded again.  
"Good. Now you'll pick your weapons, armor and goals. The guild offers these free of charge alongside your tuition – only if you are a crimson moon trainee, which you are."

He then told me of five abilities to learn from, and what each of them entailed. Somehow that's when the gang finally got it together in my head. And they all talked at the same time over each other too. It was a nightmare to filter around, but I got a general enough idea on what to do.  
I asked to learn the Critical Eye skill he mentioned, and then for a shield and if possible a halberd.

A moment after, he returned with a kite shield and a five foot glaive. It honestly looked more like a foot long flat dagger fixed to a thick staff and two square pegs on the base jutting out. The tip looked more like a needle then a flat dagger to be honest but it certainly looked like it could also slash someone open. He also had someone else come in holding a pile of leather and metal plates.

"I'll now train you in its use, in tandem with your shield. At the end of your training, you'll be able to fight with and without the shield. And with and without the spear."

As for the armor, as I'd soon learn – wasn't like Mogzo's. His covered his entire chest, whereas mine only covered my left shoulder. It was better armor for a spear user apparently, though I did feel ripped off slightly. That said, the armor for the left shoulder down to the gloves seemed to have attracted the most metal parts. It was far more protected then Mogzo's and still just as maneuverable. As I'd learn later, in case I didn't have a shield, my entire left armor would serve as a makeshift one, since the entire stance had me constantly offer my left side to the enemy.

Critical Eye was a strange skill. Unlike the other skills, it had nothing to do with your state of mind, or even your desire to win. It was simply experience and how good your weapon was. Other abilities like [RAGE CLEAVE] channeled your emotions into the strike, or [SHIELD WALL] which seemed to literally manifest your desire to block the coming blow as a second shimmering shield layered over your wooden one.

Critical eye simply heightened your senses. Activating it properly at the end of the day, I'd see the world move slower, and my target would have red marks appear on their body. I'd understand exactly what each mark could do if I struck the target true. Some of these marks were blue instead, meaning my weapon would likely fail to penetrate. Looking at my trainer, a lot of marks were red – but experience told me they might as well be blue since I'd never land the hit. Critical eye thus only told me where it would hurt, if the opponent stood stock still and just let themselves get hit. That might not sound useful, but it let me skip a lot of guesswork on enemies, especially since the marks would always be consistent species to species. A human would always have the same red marks as any other – although some had existing conditions, they might have even more red marks. But almost never any less.

The better warriors would simply memorize those locations quickly, able to fight and dealing the pin-point damage without using the skill. The additional effect of slowing down the world was where the skill shone brightest to me so far. It gave me the chance to change directions of my blow mid-way, to follow through on the target. In real time, the skill would only last two seconds or so, but in the slow motion time, it felt like six. It could even be used defensively in clutch situations. The drawback was that [CRITICAL EYE] couldn't be used constantly. Once or twice per fight, then I'd have to meditate a moment and rest. Richard only told me the skill was more magical in origin then anyone might suspect.

I spent a long time learning shields in isolation to any other item, how to use them as a weapon, how to make the most of a free hand and shield, and how to hold a shield with two hands.  
After that, it was the spear and its use. The prongs on the tip could be used to crush things if I swung it like a hammer and could also be used to lock an enemy blade and swat it aside. The spear tip looked like a skinny dagger and would cleanly puncture anything with a proper thrust, sinking down to the prongs. Although I had to be cautious never to stab unless I was in a position to yank it back out after – or that I knew the fight would end. There were entire techniques on just pulling the spear out of a stab, both two handed and single handed.  
The day was up before I got to learn how to use the spear in tandem with a shield, but at least I knew how to use a shield with dagger, and a flurry of simple moves with the spear. The strength of a raging fire.

The chilling part was noticing Richard had stopped using that cursed wooden stick with Mogzo and instead began using his actual sword. There was quite a lot of blood spilled that day, but anytime the demon turned to train with me; down went the sword and up went the wood.

Bath was more noisy then usual that day. I sent a grunt in his direction, _Wow, that was brutal. Sorry._ He sighed and nodded while I clapped his back. Then we threw ourselves in the bath and the moment was over.

 **-Day 5-**

Richard now used the sword on both of us. Imagine medival torture with all the stabbing and slashing. Except we were allowed to fight back – not that it changed anything ultimately. By the end of the day, we were almost numb to the pain of metal. Anything lighter than a full on deep stab could be shrugged off.

Learned more about using a shield and spear in tandum. Ended up being a very simple combo with few moves. Very precise and deliberate, any subtility in this combat was all based on keeping the proper distance and a good eye on footing, terrain, surroundings, ect. It was interesting; most combat didn't have anything to do with actually stabbing at people – that was just a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.  
The biggest thing drilled into me, is how to discard a weapon and when. Is the enemy nimble and quick? If they get past your shield and into your personal space, ditch the spear, draw the dagger. A bigger part of that section on training was how to _tell_ it was _going to happen_ early on. That way you'd stab forward with the spear and drop it right after that attack, carrying yourself into the enemy with the dragger pre-drawn. Catch them by surprise that would.

The second was the flip side of things. What if they were slow and large? In that case, ditch the shield and rely on two handed spear hits. All in all, an entire day was spent learning all the above, all together. By the end, I was suited for the rage of war.

Bath time was bath time. I managed to get my hands on a small hollowed out wooden pipe which let me float for twenty minutes like a dead body in the water before we hurried to scrub clean. All in all, probably my favorite memory. I almost fell asleep it was so peaceful.

 **-Day 6-**

Mogzo's last day here. He spent it fighting Richard in a real duel, using every last tactic he could. He managed to tie with Richard, from the few glances I spotted. I didn't get to watch much of it since I had to spend the day with another instructor learning more moves and techniques, along with the usual backbreaking (Literally here) condition training. At this point it was automatic, they didn't even need to tell us the routine before we set out to do it.

Hell, all I thought as that stupid wolf finally caught up to me in runs was, _Ahhh, just get it fucking over with you dumb pooch._ I didn't even bother fighting back. Besides, it clearly wasn't having as much fun if its prey just rolled over, so in a sick and twisted way I was having my own revenge on the wannabe dog. Don't ask, I'm as mysterious as the dark side of the moon.

When the sun set and Richard called it a day, he simply nodded contently and sent him away. That was it. That was all the goodbye Richard would give. And for some reason, it was so fitting I almost felt like crying. Mogzo on his part did.  
The big man was quieter than usual in the baths that day. In the middle of floating around in the water with him to my side, I heard him mumble out to me.  
"T-thanks… and… sorry," he said. The voice was timid and I almost missed it since my ears were submerged.  
Anyone else might not understand just what he was thanking me for. But we were brothers in arms at this point. Every day we struggled, tortured under Richard's steely blue eyes. We'd gone through hell, and he was done. _Finished_. So that's what he meant.

 _Thanks for being there.  
Thanks for suffering with me.  
Thanks for reminding me I'm not alone._

 _Sorry for breaking up the team.  
Sorry for leaving you alone tomorrow.  
Sorry for betraying you like that._

"Likewise," I croaked. And just like before, I knew he understood what I meant.

 **-Day 7-**

My own day of reckoning had arrived. I woke up, and geared up. This time I pulled out Kate's dagger and affixed the dagger sheath to my armor as taught. I would need it today.  
While I headed out to the training courtyard, Mogzo unloaded the few things he owned out of his chest, set his bed as usual, and walked outside the guild. We shared one last glance that said it all, and I _ordered_ him through that glare to turn away first, and do it proudly. The big stupid giant did exactly that. No other glances, no pity, just resolution as he broke contact and took that first step in the opposite direction.

And all that was waiting for me on the other side was Richard, his sword, and the group of priests preparing for the day. I got to know all their names day one and two. Now I couldn't quite remember who was who. It's funny, at the start Richard would call them out systematically when he needed one of us healed by name. After that, he simply barked out "Healer."  
On further reflection, I can just say it was probably his way of training the healers. Showing them who should be ready to heal, doing the rotation for them in his head, and once they were organized among each other, he stopped calling the names. It was all up to them next.

There wasn't any morning runs, or conditioning for the seventh day. Richard simply drew his sword and charged wordlessly at me. We both knew exactly what was going to happen.

And I matched his speed just as mutely. Jab after jab, I tore at him whenever I saw a chance. I'd throw myself backwards anytime I saw a disadvantage. Every hit filled with only the minimal energy required. Every last thing he'd taught me, I hurled at him frantically. It was uncanny how I predicted any attempt at breaking past my shield; my dagger was already lunging for blood before my spear even hit the ground. No matter where the fight took us, I always knew where I had discarded my gear, and my feet were like a second right hand. Some points, I'd step backwards and a spear or shield would just jump off the ground into my hands, the kick that sent it almost invisible. Likewise, he wouldn't use a single skill he hadn't taught me, everything he retaliated with was something he'd shown me before. It was a just fight in every respect. Even his armor and weapons had been stripped to my level. The only sound that morning were slight grunts, the soft scratch of boots sliding on dirt, and the heavy metal slams of two forces striking each other. The priests gathered around us nervously.  
Today, just like yesterday, they would be learning how to instantly stabilize a fatal wound.

Forget blood and bones. I was iron. Steel coursed through my veins and when I bled it reeked of rust. It was iron that filled my heart, and metal that held my spear and shield. And what good was iron if it wasn't forged? I had been tempered over seven unforgiving days. I was iron today. And I was unyielding.  
An hour passed and the lunch bell was rung. But I was the one smiling at the first of many fights today. Because Richard was bleeding. His face; a deeper frown than typical. And now I knew Richard was no god of war, but just another man.

By the end of the day, I'd learned everything I could from Richard. I had the oddest feeling of satisfaction as he gave me the dismissal nod. Richard on his part, remained stoic to the very end. "Perhaps," He said quietly, an addition he hadn't done for Mogzo. "I have become too reliant on my equipment and skills. Fighting with neither and only the critical eye has reminded me my basics need to be re-enforced." Then he turned to me and said something he'd never said before. "See to it that you don't make that mistake in your future, S.B."  
He said my name.

The bath that night was eerily silent. Mogzo wasn't around anymore, and it was just me simmering in the warm water. It felt lonely in a way, but also just as calming. Once clean, I went to sleep as usual.  
In the morning, I packed my gear and walked out of the warrior's guild, a necklace with an insignia proudly draped in front of my chest. I wondered what to do now that I was out.


	7. Chapter 7

Walking out of the warrior's guild… is this how prisoners felt when they were released? The world felt massive, I couldn't even tell where to put my next step. So I did what I usually would have done: Sit down on a rock and laze around for a bit. No conditioning, no steel swords swinging in my face, nothing. I hadn't even seen Richard's face yet and the sun had just started to raise already. I'd have to meet up with the rest of my team at the inn later, but I'm sure I can make a few stops. I still had two silvers left in my boot, a mess of capas in my bag and plenty of thoughts on what I should get.

While thinking, Spectrum showed up then. Or rather, he'd been here this entire time? I felt him sitting right next to me, but throwing a glance to the side showed nobody of course. Just the feeling remained. It was calming.  
"What's on your mind my friend?" I said, this time out loud. There wasn't anyone around me to overhear, and it felt good to just talk to someone casually. This past week had only been grunts, 'Yes sir,' or nods. I was almost scared I had forgotten how to speak. Spectrum winced at me, seems like something particularly bitter had just come across his mind _. "Unfortunately, doesn't seem like you got to ask about the other stuff we wanted you to learn and it's not really a great time to do it now."_ He stated, while I listened. What stuff had it been again? I have vague memories on the whispers I heard. Something about jobs, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Ahh, sorry. I messed up." I chuckled. "Don't blame me too much, I've had an interesting past couple of days. Funny story really..."  
 _"_ _We'll have to keep it in mind for your next trip back."_ Spectrum nodded as his thoughts slipped leisurely from my mind. He seemed to have gone back to reach for something. What had he been asking about? I struggled to remember. Jobs. Options. Guil- oh! He had asked something about multi-jobs? Possibility of combining two different classes together, magic was particularly interesting to him. I looked at the rising sun, "No time my ass. Got all the time in the world now." I sat up, goal in mind again, and turned my feet in the guild's direction.

Not even a minute later, I was walking right back up the stone steps. This time, as a fully fledged guild member. I knew I had access to the full complex – I had earned that right. Richard wasn't in the courtyard, but I wasn't surprised. Mogzo and I had been the only recruits this past week. So I made my way into the office buildings.  
"S.B." He stated, watching me walk in. "You have questions?"  
The old man always did have a quick mind, if very short and to the point on everything. I wondered just what lead him to becoming a trainer instead of seeking out his fortune? He was old but didn't have a gray beard or hair yet. Maybe he truly did love what he did, that sadistic bastard. The slight frowns on his face at least told me he didn't enjoy doing the paperwork at the very least. I might be a welcome distraction.

"I had a question on joining other guilds." I asked, wincing a bit at the implication. "You wish to abandon the warrior way so early, after having survived the training? I'm surprised by your guts." He wasn't angry, that I could tell. After a week, I had either learned how to project emotions on his face or actually learned some of the minuscule tells he had to offer. Right now, my question was just that: Any old question. He hadn't even stopped his paperwork.  
"No, I'm still planning on continuing my path as a warrior. I was just being, err, greedy and thinking about gaining more skills then just the warrior's." Good way to explain it.  
"Ambitious." He nodded, putting down his pen. "You're not the first of course. You won't be the last either. Guilds rely on holding a monopoly over taught skills. So long as you uphold your vow to never speak of anything that you've learned here, most guilds will forgive other minor evils." He dabbed the feather pen in ink and continued on his work. "Other guilds will welcome you into their fold, unless they demand perfect loyalty. One more recruit will increase their profits; they have no pressing reason to turn that away. However," He shrugged his feather pen in my direction. Make a note of this, it seemed to say. "Other mercenary corps, armies, and Crimson Moon members tend to look down on multi-class personnel. They are typically much less effective than a straight and narrow guildmember. You're clever S.B. perhaps you'll also defy this with my advance warning."  
"Thank y-" I said, immediately interrupted.  
"First - There **is** synergy between the guilds, but it must be done as a group – an individual cannot heal and block at the same time for example. Have two members and that tactic becomes possible. The guilds are separate for a reason – each represents a completely different paradigm in combat."  
"Second, Crimson Moon members do not have infinite amounts of money nor do they have infinite time. Your resources in this world is limited, usually measured in years - and decades for the cautious few. There is also an information blackout due to the guild vows, and I will get to that in a moment."

I nodded at the explanation, he had a point to this, I could tell. He composed himself, reaching for the words. He spoke when he was ready. "Now add two and two together. Crimson moon members who try and learn two different paradigms of combat often waste their time learning skills that do not synergize well together – even if they sound like they should. They often only have enough money and time for a handful of skills through their life. As such, it's a gamble if they've picked correctly or not. As they grow in strength, new tactics may be needed. And while the basic classes are tried and true – flexible enough to fit the growing needs - a dual class might be built too rigid, chasing after a certain build that becomes irrelevant as the years pass. Better men then you have tried and ended up wasting that precious resources, fumbling along in the dark, trying to make it work and dying before succeeding, or being pinned to only one hunting ground. Some get lucky and find a combination that works, most however, do not. Those that do are still bound by the vow of silence and thus cannot teach further people. Their style of combat becomes unique to them, and only them. This is why nameless dual class soldiers are looked down on. They are inconsistent – mostly for the worse. And may not even fit any role that they would be expected to."

I see. Someone who's trying to learn how to make two different classes work together in the same body was literally re-inventing the wheel all alone. No wonder most would fail. It would need great foresight and a lot of thinking time – not to mention you wouldn't be able to talk to anyone from both guilds as it would disrupt the vow. Alone in deciding your future there. Make a mistake and it wasn't just a _"_ _Well, that didn't work – let's try something else."_ You would be forced to commit and if it was a poor choice it would kill you for it. This world was ruthless.

But that said, I wasn't alone, I thought grinning. I had the mental powers of several people put together, at the very least five or even more lurking under the surface. Not to mention they could think while I went ahead with the rest of the day. We were a very powerful team come to think of it. If anyone had the best chance of pulling it off, it **would** be us. I mean, he did mention other people had managed to make it work – granted only in the minority, but they were well known at least.

Walking out of the guild I had the pleasure of finding Beta and Trog had showed up next to me. The first threw me double thumbs up, _"_ _Nice job! Enjoy this bit of free time you've got; you've sure as hell earned it."_  
"Buy me a drink then," I nudged to his side, but the git had already disappeared. "Fine. I'll settle for an imaginary drink, cheap bastard."  
The other voice hadn't run off yet, _"_ _Congratulations on becoming a Warrior."_ Trog said, _"_ _I'm ready to drop right now myself; life's been busy as of late...or your mind has been I guess."_  
"Really now? Had to visit the imaginary wife? Let me guess, kids haven't been fed in weeks?"  
 _"_ _Hum, since you can actually hear us again and talk to us in a coherent manner, compile a list of stuff ya want done. I'll try to do it next message."_  
"I like answers. I guess my next question…. Hmmm" I thought hard walking down the deserted corridor. Trog simply let himself fall backwards, sinking into the floor when he hit the stone. He was gone in seconds.  
"Ah." My fist lightly pounded my palm in eureka. I knew just what to ask! "How do you all know Mary in the first place? I'm guessing you were all pals before, maybe living in her head first before moving on, or getting evicted?" I wondered how else they'd know a complete stranger. "Or perhaps, I knew her before? Were we friends in the other world? How am I doing so far?" I asked the silent air. No answers. Well, I think I knew how to summon them if I really needed it, but they'll come back on their own time.

With my business in the guild done, I made my merry way back to town. I had company not even halfway through my path.  
"Spectrum, you're back. What's on your mind?" I snickered at my lame pun, continuing my way forward. By this point, I felt honestly no problems just talking out loud. Felt much better. Wearing armor, shield and spear made me care a lot less about how people around me glanced my direction. Let them know I was unhinged.  
 _"_ _Spectrum's dossier time~"_ He indicated cheerfully, already bringing out the clipboard and comprehensive report. "I swear, you're either cheating on me with other people's heads, or straight up stalking. But I love the gossip."  
 _"_ _You've already reached an understanding with Mogzo, so there's not much more to tell about him, but I'll go through it anyway."_  
"Sure, I-  
 _"_ _Wait Mogzo...Waah we forgot to warn him!"_ Arbit appeared out of nowhere with the sudden revelation.  
 _"_ _Find him! He is near the breakfast place I think waah!"_  
"Ah _shiiiiiiit_." I blurted out, hands pulling at my hair. "Raghill. Fuck, I completely forgot to warn him!"  
I broke into a sprint, it was actually really easy to pace myself and cover ground.

"Details on Mogzo, Spectrum?" I threw out in the air while dashing past an overfilled cart.  
And Spectrum did just that, filling me in detail on his quirks. Some of it was surprising, I hadn't thought Mogzo wasn't strong compared to his size. If I was a lynx, he would be a bear. I'd just taken it for granted that Mogzo could crush anything he put his hands around if he wanted to. _"_ _Well, as you should have long surmised from Kate's story, he's probably about to get shafted by Raghill, so there's a recruitment opportunity there if things go as I predict."_ Spectrum continued,  
"Excellent!" I grinned, reaching the city gates. "It'd be good to fight side by side, I think it'll work fine."  
Spectrum agreed, _"_ _He learned Rage Strike first and offers a complementary style that makes double tanking viable."_ No tally needed on the conclusion, unlike Ranta _. "He's acceptable as a main tank while you serve as offtank."_ The specter declared, stamping the plan approved and complete. Find Mogzo, recruit him. Simple. Now I just had to find him, and he should be in the inn, if that's the breakfast place Arbit told of.

In five minutes, I'd already sprinted across the plaza and reached the residential district. Another few minutes and I found myself in front of our inn. Looks like I was the first to make it back. I walked in, looking for one metal-clad giant. Instead, I found Haru sitting on a stool in front of the fireplace.  
"Oh, Vav S.B. Hey!" He greeted me, raising his hand in the air. I slapped the high five and sat down with a clank on the stool next to him. Time to shake things up a bit. "You don't have to be so formal with me Vav Haru, we're in this together right?"  
He nodded. "Good. Mind if I drop the formalities too?" Another nod. "Uh, sure. That's okay by me."  
"Well, with that settled, who else is here? I'm looking for Mogzo, I think he's supposed to be around here. Seen him?"  
Haru shook his head, "No, haven't seen him at all since he left the office with that hunter. I think I'm the first to come back, but I just arrived."  
"Right, guess they're still filing bac-" And what do you know, someone had already shown up. She'd snuck her way behind us too.  
"Mya!" She giggled at the both of us, catching Haru by suprised. He flinched, I just dumbly stared. Like Haru, she had her own armor and leather gear. A bow was draped on her back, and on her belt was a short sword. Seemed in a good mood too, but I've never seen her in any other mood either.  
"Good to see you Yume," I shot her a smile which she returned immediately. "Sobato! You look super different!"  
"I do?"  
"Yup! Like, older and… thicker? Yume doesn't know exactly, but Yume likes it! Ne ne, you were completely right about the bows too! Yume's Guild Master said that Yume may not really be good at it. No matter how much Yume practiced, Yume didn't really improve. So Yume just learned swords instead!"  
Haru jumped in, "Sobato? Is that what your initials meant all this time?"  
"Hmmm, not reall-"  
"Yume named Sobato, Sobato, because Sobato is manly and S.B. is icky~yan."  
"I… see?" Haru answered lamely looking at me for permission.  
"I don't mind it." I answered his unworded question, "Kinda like it to be honest. But just you guys get to call me that. Anyone outside the group, it's S.B."  
"Yume thinks that's a good idea! Sobato is our Sobato and no one else's!"

We made some more small talk while other members slowly joined us again. Ranta turned up second to last, and his entry was just as Ranta as it could get.  
"I seems I'm the last to arrive," Manato smiled broadly and looked at everyone in turn. "I'm a Priest, Haruhiro's a Thief, Yume is a Hunter, Shihoru's a Mage, S.B's a War-"  
"His name is Sobato!" Yume puffed out her cheeks.  
"He is? You are?" He asked, looking from Yume to me. I just shrugged. He nodded, "Ok – Sobato's a warrior and lastly Ranta's Dread Knight. Looks like our party is ready to go."

"Why," said Ranta, frowning, "Are you addressing me the same casual way you address Haruhiro?"  
"You prefer something more formal?"  
"Being addressed informally pisses me off. You should call me Lord Ranta."  
"Haha… No."  
"Don't just say 'no' then laugh it off!" Ranta yelled.  
"Yume's fine if everyone calls her Yume!" The girl said, completely sidetracking Ranta right before his antics. Nice one Yume, I shot her a thumbs up. She just coyly grinned back. Wait, could that have really been intentional?!  
"Just 'Shihoru' is fine with me too," Shihoru added, not wanting to be left out.  
"Thanks Yume, Shihoru," Manato replied, looking at each in turn. Manato and Haru greeted each other with a high five and threw themselves into gossip about the respective guilds. They couldn't get far since there's that vow in effect.

It eventually ended with Ranta getting too full of himself and challenging Manato to an arm wrestle. Surprisingly Ranta won... hard earned, but earned. Oddly enough, the moment after Ranta won, his eyes turned right to me. I thought for sure he would ask me to challenge him next, he never did. Our new priest was pretty lighthearted about his loss. Ranta got cocky next and decided to challenge Haru, though our new thief just found his antics annoying and dodged. I think Ranta must have had some strength training or something and wanted to show it off while we were all gathered. For some reason, Ranta very carefully avoided challenging me to anything. So I challenged him myself and saw him make up five excuses as to why he couldn't, in less than two breaths. That got a laugh from our entire group.

Knowing where everyone was, I told them I'd do a bit more shopping and then we'd set out on the first adventure outside the city walls. Manato wanted to set out earlier, everyone else agreed, clearly looking forward to that moment. So we compromised. I'd meet them on the road, right outside the entry into the forest. Arbit appeared the moment I mentioned shops, and told me something about pancakes. I immediately stopped the group. He's right, we should do something special for our 'graduation.' A quick glance around the room told me we'd have the materials for simple pancakes, though I sent Manato to buy jam and any missing material. He didn't pull any fuss on that, trusting me.

"Now, before we head off, let me make something good for you all." I grinned. "You're gonna like this, I guarantee it."  
"Yea and what if we don't? Huh? You're gonna pay me capas for wasting my time if I don't!" Ranta challenged, chest puffed out. Kay. Didn't even answer him, lost cause. Spectrum, you better be right about him being a good addition to the team here. Though he… did sometimes make me laugh in that 'what an idiot' way. I'm man enough to admit that.

I cracked the eggs, stirred the flower, sprinkled sugar and any of the local items I could find along with milk. Pretty soon, the batter was thick enough to where I wanted it. "Umm… what are you making?" Shihoru asked timidly to my side, while the rest of the group gossiped behind. "Pancakes." I answered flatly. "Oh!" She replied and even the group stopped talking for a moment. "Pancakes?" Yume quirked quietly, as if it reminded her of something but she didn't know what. "Yume doesn't know what pancakes are, but she thinks they're really tasty for some reason!"  
"You all probably know it, and at the same time don't. One of those things from our past life. Except I remembered it." Or rather, a very specific voice in my head remembered it. I certainly don't take credit for anything! Let the record show, credit where it's due.

When the first pancakes began to be fried, and the smell wafted over, the group just flat out stopped talking and hovered over my back. Even Ranta. Who would then snatch the very first one complete and scarf it down without waiting for any of the jams I'd asked Manato for. I swear he had tears in his eyes, but I think getting him to admit that would be akin to reversing gravity. To say pancakes were a hit among the team was an understatement, we scarfed down each one until the batter ran out. And then we fried even the drops to eek out the last of it. It's a good thing Manato returned early when he did, I had a stack saved for him and it was getting harder to hold off Ranta from swiping them. But the difference in strength between Ranta and I was the same difference between Mogzo and I – which is to say, huge. The brat didn't stand a chance.  
The sun was well into the air by the time we parted ways, but no one complained.

Arbit had quite a few words to say about the shops. Anything from 'make new business friends!' to the more intricate details on why Raghill was named Raghill and if he was a hunter or a thief pretending to be a hunter. _"_ _Raghill might be out to get you though hmm"_ He muttered, thinking already on the future.  
"I don't see why he'd go after me Arbit," I glanced to the ghost next to me, I swear I almost saw him. "Haven't done shit to him, and if he tries anything I'll just decline his scam attempts. Problem solved."  
 _"_ _Raghill…. you sure he's a hunter?"_  
"Not for a second."  
 _"_ _He could be a thief specialized in conning and his name is just a code name."_  
"Yeah, but Raghill makes a terrible codename, I almost feel sorry for him."  
 _"_ _A man who cons a thousand leaving hills of ragged men and women behind."_  
"That's… rather morbid. Can't deny the guy's a scumbag, but one I'll avoid. Kate said it well before, he's still alive for a reason. Evil and incompetent aren't mutually exclusive. You know, maybe he might even be one of those dual job wielders? Could explain why he had to resort to conning people for money, fighting monsters might not have worked well for him. His build might have been great against humanoid targets, and then proved terrible against anything else."

I followed direction dutifully Arbit's directions, already reaching the first shop. Potions.  
With a knuckle crack, I got to work as Arbit faded off. No Mogzo spotted anywhere in my treks sadly. The market hadn't been a huge success. Pitching ideas to the vendors got me nowhere but laughed at – out of sight of course. One does not laugh at a warrior who's armored to the teeth. Still, it's pretty clear they wouldn't take anything I said seriously enough when it came to numbers. I think Crimson Moon members must have a rep for not being very smart or something. Either way, unless I joined the merchant's guilds, I wouldn't have much weight on discussion business accords. Until I was rich enough to start my own shit. Then they'll be wishing they'd paid attention. Heheheheh.

By my belt, I had bought myself a few strips of first aid bandages and that came with basic training too. Good buy, you'd still need to strip armor before applying, making it somewhat tricky in combat situations, but turns out they're also useful for a lot more out of combat too. I was super tempted to buy that monster book, but didn't even have the money on hand. A trip to the bank to deposit the rest of my silver had cleaned me out of everything except for the capas in my hand. The trinket shop had an interesting jem I was looking into – it was called Quickthought, and it let you multiply your thinking speed. If you could think fast then with the gem you'd be able to think double that. The effect was kinda similar to the critical eye's effect of slowing down your perception of time – but not. You simply _thought_ faster - you didn't see things move slower. Combat wise, being able to create an entire poem while a second passed was cool but completely useless as well. It certanily wasn't marketed for Crimson moon members, instead, the gem was traditionally needed for academia. That said – I had specific reasons for that jem. How it would be affected by all the voices in my head? If each one were thinking individually at the same time like I thought they did, the gem should theoretically work all at once right? Could I hear all their voices in full detail within a heartbeat? Problem was that it was expensive. Four silver for a minor one. Shitty world is shitty.

I met the team pretty quickly once I left town, and they'd run into my missing friend.  
"Mogzo!" I bellowed, charging after him.  
"H-hi S.B." He waved gingerly. I was especially pleased that neither of us even thought about using honorifics in our introduction. The group on their part was a bit stunned at our friendship. "We trained in the same guild, as warriors. Was pretty brutal. Made men out of us." I answered their looks.  
"Yeah… it was." He agreed.  
"Going on a wild limb here and guessing Raghill scammed you, and you've been waiting here to see if you could join our team when we passed by?"  
"Sharp." Manato commented.  
I just scratched my back guilty. See, I just had a really _really_ good information broker that knew all your darkest secrets, like you were all an open book. Talking about that, Spectrum, think you can find more details on Yume? She's a ditz, but somehow I get a feeling she's just pretending. She has shut down Ranta time and time again rather _too_ well.

Manato cleared his throat, "Well, Sobato, you're the warrior of this group so we don't really need another warrior. But, we'd like to take Mog-"  
"Done." I answered immediately. "What, were you all waiting for me to give the seal of approval?"  
Mogzo had a face of pure relief. The rest of the group were a bit taken aback, but smiles quickly bloomed between all of them. Even Ranta seemed less pissed than usual. That said, Ranta was Ranta. "Ok, now that we've got another freeloader, can we PLEASE get on with it? Money doesn't grow on trees! It grows on freshly killed dead people! Hahaha, Lord Skulheill isn't going to wait forever for me to get my first Vice! Let's go! Let's go!"

I checked with Manato, who'd brought out a map. "Few places we can go. Forest is the obvious, it's right in front of us. Supposedly there's mud goblins infesting the area. Good earning for a new group like ours. Second, there's city ruins about seventeen miles into the forest. It would take three hours to get there, but they say we'll find a lot more mud goblins there." His hands pointed in the other section of the map, away from the forests.  
"There's also the hinterlands here, they're pretty massive rolling plains. Used to be farmland, but they haven't been reclaimed yet. Supposedly there's golems and trolls that linger around, especially near the rocks. Easy to travel around though. And then there's also the Siren mines a bit further, to the left of the forest. Kobalds linger there, but they're supposed to be just as strong as mud goblins."  
The group were poured over the map, keep track of every point Manato made. Except for Ranta, who was just swinging his sword against imaginary opponents, and making _swooshing_ sounds.  
"And finally, we could travel down the king's road where we'll run into the wetlands. That's where all the rivers converge, there's supposed to be a lot of bog elementals from washed down magic trinkets and rogue spell debris. They all get mashed together and make the bog elementals rise. Supposed to be tough, but good money to make."

Beta was on my shoulder before I could even open my mouth, _"No need to overreach when you don't even know how long your arm is, yes?"_ He questioned innocently enough. Other voices showed support for the idea too _. "You may end up not finding foes to fight but no one should be running out of money for basic necessities yet, so that's fine."_ Spectrum approved to Beta's left. As if to seal the deal, I noticed Arbit nodding strongly at the decision. _"I agree with spectrum, it's best to start small. Maybe ask Yume of hunting grounds her master taught her?"_  
"Yea, good point. She'll probably know something." I agreed.  
The rest of the group turned their attention to me at that. "Uh, did I say that out loud? Sorry, was thinking about the vo-choices." I answered back quickly enough with a cough. Ranta hadn't even heard, he was too busy playing around near the trees but the rest had.  
 _"It's best to sit down and strategize - this is not a game! You could get hurt, or killed yourself, or others! And knowing about what each of you are capable of helps with tactics and positioning, for example."_ Arbit continued onwards while I decided to distract the group from my blunder by doing just that.

"What I was thinking is that the forest direction sounds like our best bet. Yume's a hunter, she's probably learned a few tricks about the forest none of us have. Also, we should discuss a little bit what sort of strategies we can do as a group. You know, so when we run into something nastier then a door to door salesman, we'd know what to do." Placate successful! That tidbit got them talking to each other and away from me. Only Manato leveled me with those calculating eyes of his, but I didn't detect any hostility, just curiosity.

The group discussed tactics, for the most part we'd stick with something traditional. Yume and Haru would scout ahead of the group, find tracks and bring back things for show and tell. Then we'd fight with a standard formation – Tanks up front, squishes in the back. Manato volunteered as vanguard for team squishy, he'll be the first to protect Yume and Shihoru in case something broke through Mogzo and I. Priests have two abilities, Smash and Cure. His smash skill would give him a good chance to stun an enemy if he hit them on the face, or their uglies. Stunned enemies would be picked up quickly by me, since I was a good deal faster than Mogzo.  
Since I had a shield, if we fought against enemies with bows or crossbows, it would be my duty to hang back and intercept missiles for the group. Haru and Ranta would enter the fight only after the enemies had engaged Mogzo and I first. Overall, solid plan I think.

Arbit had an extra bit of info for me here. _"Spectrum forget to add something on Ranta's dossier, that Dread Knights are medium range fighters that avoid closed quarter attack as much as possible. So him supporting the tank might be more efficient ...though it's kinda odd that Ranta's instinct tells him that he need a tank though."_ I thought about that, and offered Ranta a different job – alternate with Haru. Whenever Haru attacks, the enemy is sure to turn its attention – that's when Ranta would strike quickly, deal damage, and retreat while us tanks prepared to tackle the enemy down. Maximum damage. He sure liked that idea at least, so it wasn't hard to convince him. Arbit's comment on him wanting to be a tank threw me for a ride. He seemed more like the type to just run if things got bad. But I might be biased… Probably biased. Thinking further, my next best theory on that is he wants to impress people? Not a great mindset for this type of job. Heroics tend to end badly.  
Arbit didn't stop there, he threw in a few other tips on organizing ourselves with callsigns and whatnot. He finished by reminding me not to neglect upkeep on Richard's brutal training. Maintenance was something the man had taught both of us. Both our bodies and our gear too.

 _"You want to take the first couple days gauging everyone's stamina and their new skills in the safest environment possible before moving on."_ Spectrum detailed, looking over the assembled riff-raff that I called my team, _"Start mapping the forest in the direction of the ruins and make sure everyone knows the area in case the worst occurs."_  
"Manato, since you've got the map, mind being the one in charge of mapping new things we find and keeping track of where we are?" I asked. He approved that, "That was my plan yes. Don't worry, I even got a compass with me too."  
"Prepared for everything aren't ya? Good, we should aim to get near the ruins today." I shot him a grin which he returned all too easily.  
"Shihoru and Yume brought food too!" The girl shot out behind Manato, not wanting to get overshadowed by our priest. The two girls seemed pretty pleased with themselves. Well. Yume did at least. Shirhoru always stayed real close by our hunter's cape.

"And it's a good thing you did, Sobato's pancakes aren't going to keep us moving for long." Manato agreed easily, then his face scrunched up seriously. Go time. "All right, let's move."

We entered the forest. A giant screaming spider jumped out of nowhere and promptly ate everyone.  
I'm lying of course. Absolutely nothing happened when we walked into the forest. And it would stay that way for several hours. And while Ranta absolutely hated the bordom of it, I was actually having a good time. The forest was fascinating, we quickly moved off the main 'road' and begun following beast trails. The first hour, we had weapons drawn and ready to attack the first thing that moved. To say we were tense was an understatement. Shihoru was a problem during those early times. The poor girl was so rigid with fear at every twig broken, we all thought she'd simply pass out the moment we'd need her. Manato took the award for most valued teammate on that one, he saw immediately her fears and slowly relaxed her with a mix of jokes and casual chatter.  
The second hour, we'd relaxed a bit more, all of us. It went from dangerous treck in the forest to leisure hike by the trees. We passed by a stream once, where Arbit was waiting and regaled me with full details on jems to find if we stopped to check. Figured it was worth something, so I called for a break there. While Haru and Yume went ahead to scout as usual, I tried out the tips I got.  
By the time they came back, I hadn't found anything interesting. On the flip side, my hands were pretty clean.

Most of us were quiet during the hours, minor chatter here and there. Every now and then we'd break camp while our pair of scouts did their job. Those lulls were boring. But thankfully, I had friends. _"Spectrum here~"_ A voice whispered to my left. Ah, good, said company had shown up.  
 _"The information about dual-classes is interesting. Don't let the harsh evaluation necessarily deter you, but for the moment we'll leave it be. One idea of mine was simply to 'splash' Mage or another spellcaster if a more suitable one is discovered later for temporary weapon/armor buffs."_  
Hmm, maybe we can nudge our resident mage to look into that possibility? The ghost next to me nodded, _"Setting your weapon on fire is never not the answer."_  
I stifled a chortle before the others around me could see. Having my spear tip not only be sharp, but also sizzling white-hot with flames licking it's side _…. "That should be fairly cheap *if* such a thing exists. As always, more research is needed."_  
Right. Magic can do practically everything as far as I understood it. I glanced at Shihoru with a predatory gleam.

 _"As for Mary and how we know these things...it would be best if we didn't reveal our sources for now, though I will tell you that neither of us knew her personally. Please just trust me on this,"_ He glanced around with a slightly guilty face, as if he were withholding a secret. Beta showed up as support.  
 _"Well, I can't say that I know Mary personally; I only have read bits about her. As for knowing the other guys... I guess vague acquaintances at best? I mean, I frequent the same general circles as Spectrum and I see Trog around often enough. Arbit is a newer face for me, admittedly."_

Right. You all got evicted for too many noise complaints didn't you? Mary kicked you all to the curb. Just fess up, I've guessed all your secrets~

Spectrum rolled his eyes, _"We're just trying to look out for you and knowing more in this direction would only serve to distract you."_ He brought the topic back on track quickly after that. _"As for your question about Yume, you may just be giving her banter skill too much credit. She's not entirely a ditz, but she definitely has the wrong priorities at times."_  
Tch. Would have been interesting if Yume was actually the secret mastermind behind everything. Plot twist.  
 _"...Also, it just occurred to me that as of last week, I've been here for four years as a member. Dang. Time flies."_ Beta shrugged. You guys have been in my head for four years now? My condolences.

 _"Dossier time, at any rate."_ Spectrum said lightly, taking a seat on the rock next to me. Wonder who was left? "Haruhiro! I bet you almost forgot he was there, didn't you?" Uhhhh…. Let's pretend I didn't forget him at all and leave it at that.  
 _"Ouch."_  
Ahh come on! I mean, you can't blame me! I haven't really been able to sit down and talk one on one with him. He's too reclusive – no he's a thief with a sneak ability right? Totally to be expected.  
 _"A shrinking violet who also didn't have many friends or the most social of activities before getting dragged here."_ Spectrum agreed sagely. _"He may not look like much but he has hidden potential and a solid moral compass. He's willing to step up and try to do the right things. Unfortunately, he's kind of crap as a thief right now since he can't Sneak worth a damn and his Backstab isn't very reliable, but if you're in a big pinch his Protagonist skills might just activate and save everyone. Don't rely on it, don't try to anticipate it, but it's there."_

Protagonist skills? Haru, the hero? Get real, if my life were a story it would be Manato as the main lead obviously. Look at him, the guy practically _reeks_ of shining silver knight. I mean, even after Kate tore him a new one, he still tried to help her out by offering capas for info we could have just demanded as a winner's fee. Only thing he's missing is his trusty stallion and quest to rescue the princess. And come to think of it…  
"Hey Manato!" I called out. He turned his attention on me, "Yes?"  
"Are you by chance the king's son, or a hidden heir apparent in some convoluted Nobel's family feud?"  
"…. Not that I know of?" He answered back cautiously. I could tell he knew I was jerking his chain but he couldn't tell where the punchline was. "Ok, secreted away at birth and raised by simple village folks in the countryside it is."  
I turned to Spectrum, see? Guaranteed hero. So long as I didn't wear a red shirt, or become his mentor figure, I should be able to ride the wave all the way till he takes over the kingdom and not keel over by the time we get showered in gold.  
My ghosts had disappeared though. Fine, leave me all alone over here. Thankfully, it was time to move on out anyhow. Right when I'd finished packing my gear, Spectrum showed up again.  
 _"I forgot to remark, SB, if you ever get tired of that Sobato nickname let us know and I'm sure we can come up with something better. Sebastian, for example, is probably more reasonable."_  
I thought about it for a moment. I did remember early on thinking that might be my name, whatever S.B. stood for.  
 _"Just, uh, pray you don't suddenly decide your name was Sean Bean, 'cause after that we don't have a hope of saving you."_  
"No way in hell I'd admit that, even if it were true," I muttered under my breath. Ranta would never let it go. Sure, I thought, Sobato was nice but I knew it wasn't my name. It just sounded... foreign? Not sure how to word it honestly. I didn't mind it much and I could probably convince Yume to call me something else easily. Let's see what you bastards can come up with. I'm removing 'Some Bitch' out of the running right now though, just sayin'

By the third hour, the greatest enemy we faced was Ranta's boredom. Which is a battlefield of its own, let me tell you.  
"And around here," Yume said, brushing her hands across the tall grass as she explained, "There's deer and foxes and other animals~yan. And because it's springtime now, bears appear once in a while. Then there's Chimos; small, fluffy, round animals with beady eyes, long, thin tails, tiny ears, hands, and feet that hop around. They're pretty good little guys. Then there's the savage pit rats, big as cats with super hard fur. They're not cute at all."  
"Well where are they?" Ranta whined. "Cause I don't see squat."  
"Hmmmm, right there!" Yume pointed right behind the boy, who jumped and dove out of the way.  
"Was quite a big one." I grunted, "Good job Ranta, you scared it away from us! I was sure we'd get eaten."  
He brushed himself off while the rest of the group chuckled. "It's not funny! What would you guys do if there really was a giant bear behind us, huh?"  
"Drive it away." Manato said emotionlessly. The rest of our group save for the mage nodded at that.  
 _"Personally I would like for you guys to fight beasts types rather than humanoids"_ Arbit chimmed in, out of nowhere like usual. _"cause certain empathy will rise. But if you do: respect it and don't prolong its suffering, take the spoils but lay it to rest. So burry or maybe burn the dead. If they don't want too, say that it might rise as an undead to seek vengeance."_  
Right. Same thing Kate had told us earlier. Apparently there was an undead problem around in these lands unless bodies were burned.  
"Most of the animals seem to be hiding pretty well from us. Don't you guys think it's strange the only thing we've seen are birds so far?" I thought out loud.  
"Maybe they're all just hiding," Manato shrugged. "In the wooded areas."  
Haruhiro nodded. "You might be right. If I were a wild animal, I wouldn't feel really safe out in the open where there's no trees or brush to hide in."  
Ranta snorted with contempt at that. "See? They all know to fear me."  
Haru didn't miss a beat, "So if we can't find any game, it's your fault."  
"Shut it, Haruhiro! It's THANKS to me we don't have bears attacking us! It's all in gracious indebtedness to me!"  
"You shut it. Even if there were any game around, yelling like that will scare them off. And the bears wouldn't care."  
Ranta practically bellowed. "AND IT'S ALL THANKS TO MY GODLY SEL- " Then he ran right into my shoulder. Don't mistake me, I hadn't actually done that on purpose. What I had done was draw out my gear and gotten in position. Mogzo and Manato had spotted it first.

"Ahead," Mogzo said, pointing. "I saw…. I saw a bush rustle."  
"Finally," Ranta said, drawing out his sword and charging straight at the bush. "Let me show you the power of a dread knight!"  
That was surprisingly effective too. Because out of the bush a tiny white critter instantly bolted through his feet and dove into another bush nearby.  
"It's a Chimos!" Yume shrieked happily, "Shhh! Yume will coax it out!"  
Ranta just glared daggers. "Some scary forest this is. Stupid bush only had some harmless rabbit."

Yume on her part sat down and began calling out to the rabbit like critter. I was pretty sure she'd scare it away instead, but oddly enough the little beast poked its head out as if she's known its name.  
"Is that…" Ranta whispered in my ear, pointing straight at the critter. Yume had turned pale, and our mage had already turned away quickly.  
"Yeah." I answered, "I think it's exactly what we think it is."

The Chimos was nibbling on something: a good part of an intact skeletal hand. And wrapped loosely around the bleached index was a faintly glowing ring. It hung loosely, now that the skin had vanished. If the hand hadn't been curled into an eternal fist, the ring would have been shook loose long ago. I couldn't tell if it was a human hand, or a humanoid monster's.  
"Yume's guild master told Yume that Chimos's eat extra magic in the air. They clean the forests. That's why they're harmless."  
"And that ring looks like its special." Haru followed.  
"Like having food grow on your hands, smart rabbit. Probably won't give up it's free lunch anytime soon." I finished.  
"Yume!" Ranta whispered loudly, "Can you catch it?! Catch it now! I want that ring, I want it!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Oi, we don't even know what sort of ring it is, you'll slap anything on your hand like that? How do you know it's not just cursed?" I probed Ranta, but the curly haired menance scoffed. "A feeling." He said puffing his chest out with each statement, "A hunch. Intuition. Six-sense. Skulheill whispered to me: 'You're not meant to give that ring up. It's unbecoming. You're a bigger man than that'. So obviously the ring is meant to be mine!"  
I thought for a moment on that, Ranta's a complete idiot sometimes – but he was a dread knight. If what I remember on them was correct… "Did your demon whisper that in your ear?" I asked.  
"What demon? I need vice first for that! Vice! Vice! Vice! Don't you know anything?!" Nevermind; he's hopeless.

Yume on the other hand had managed to coax out the chimos from its bush. Looks like she sprinkled her hands with some sort of glitter on her hands, I couldn't be sure. Stealing a glance at Shiharu an idea came up on how we'd speed up the process a bit.  
 _"_ _Yume-tan wants fluffy animal, Yume-tan needs to earn fluffy animal."_ Spectrum warned me lightly with a chuckle. I take it that's a no on my plan right?  
 _"_ _I agree with spectrum, Yume has more training in this."_ Arbit added to my other side.  
 _"_ _Seems like the obvious choice."_ Another voice agreed, seemed like a new one to me come to think of it. _"_ _Oh, I forgot to introduce myself to S.B! I'm Jazzberry by the way."_ Yep. Definitely a new one. Welp, that's fine by me. He even introduced himself, how polite. Y'all have very strange names come to think of it. Arbit brought me back on topic, offering a few suggestions on how to corner the rogue rabbit, but spectrum had that covered too.  
 _"_ _Don't involve Shihoru in this unless you want fumbles."_ He said seriously, _"_ _I'll cover that in her dossier later. Manato doesn't have any appropriate magic."_ The specter quickly threw out, to which Arbit only agreed. _"_ _...yeah, I think it more likely that she fry the chimo and Yume will get mad at her, making the team strain a bit ...good call."_ He nodded strongly. Spectrum turned his attention to Arbit then in idle chat, _"_ _She won't fry it, she doesn't have a damage spell. She just won't hit and will just startle it."_  
"Hurry up Yume! We don't have all day, just grab the hand and pass it over here!" Ranta spat out, which didn't seem to help. He was pacing at my side like a hungry cat.  
"And what if Yume doesn't?" She glared back.  
 _"_ _I thought she has magic missile a ball of light the size of a fist?"_ Arbit questioned.  
"What you want that ring? Well you can't, it's mine! I saw it first, finder's keepers."  
Manato spoke then, taking control. "We'll decide who gets the ring after we come back to the inn and have it properly identified. When we know more about it, we'll find who needs it more."  
 _"_ _I thought she only had that shadow disabling spell for now?"_ Spectrum countered.  
"What?! No! It's on a skeleton hand! _Skeleton_. _Hand_. That's like, every dread knight sign you can think of! That ring belongs to me! Lord Skullhein must have sent it my way as a reward for being the dread knight with the most potential!"

Anyone else would have been pretty overwhelemed at having two different conversations going on at the same time, but oddly enough I felt fine.

 _"_ _Don't mind us,"_ Arbit threw out at me quickly anyhow, attention absorbed in skimming through a book of sorts. Then he took a quick glance away from it for a moment _, "And don't let anyone wear it,"_ One finger pointed at Ranta, _"_ _It might be cursed or something so better check it out first."_ Can do boss. See, I'm not the only one paranoid about an ominous glowing ring on a skeleton hand.  
"Have some self-control Ranta," Haru muttered, clearly looking angry.  
"Self-control? Never heard of it. You gotta use words that are in my dictionary Haruhiro." Ranta threw back just as savagely.  
"Stop arguing or Yume won't catch the chimos!" One equally angry hunter threw at our general direction. I snatched Ranta's shoulder, and lowered both of us on the ground. "Lady's right. Let her do her thing. No use thinking about the ring if we can't even catch the rabbit."  
Ranta glared at me for a moment, but then shrugged when I motioned for Mogzo to help out on Arbit's casual advice. "Whatever, that's fine with me."

A moment passed, before Arbit seemed to find the page he wanted. Spectrum was quickly put up to date, seemed like Arbit had made a point.  
 _"_ _Oh, right."_ Spectrum thought, _"_ _I actually forgot that she had it that early considering she swapped over to only really using Shadow Echo."_ He answer, then shrugged. _"_ _Uh, yeah, either way she won't hit anything."_  
This seems rather foreboding to have the mage be a terrible shot, right?  
 _"_ _Especially if she keeps shutting her eyes. But I disagree, she'll most likely hit Ranta."_  
Well, some people – certainly not going to mention names here –would happen to pay a few capas to see that happen.  
 _"_ _We're supposed to be selling SB on why it's a bad thing for her to cast, not a good thing..."_ Spectrum shifted, glancing at me wearily. Hey! I'm not a terrible person! Some people like dogs, other people like cats, I just happen to like seeing Ranta lit on fire. You can't judge me. Spectrum said nothing.  
 _"_ _And yet the silence means you're tempted," Arbit grinned at his fellow, "But in all seriousness you need the copper and Ranta can suffer in training."_  
Guess that's a no-go on getting our mage to 'accidentally' toss a few totally harmless spells in the direction of flammable curly hair right? Fine. Ya'll are no fun.

Yume on her part had managed pretty well with the chimos. The little critter was arguably adorable, minus the skeleton hand clenched in its mouth. It kept taking a few steps twards her glittering hands, then back away, then back again. Greedy little thing was having a battle of the minds between "I want it." and "GIANT PEOPLE THERE. HELLO?!"  
Against Yume, the chimos's common sense was losing the battle handily. Wouldn't be long until it was within grabbing distance. Or rather, petting distance. I don't think Yume had any intention on just getting the hand out of its mouth. Something about that sparkle in her eye, but I dunno. Could be anything.

A few moments passed leisurely. The Chimos was no where near to being tamed, but that didn't seem to bother Yume who seemed completely absorbed by just being that close to the fluffy thing.  
I relaxed a bit on my rock. Which is when I noticed Trog had been quietly waiting alongside.  
 _"_ _Trog here, You wanted to know about how we get to know stuff right?"_ He asked neutrally.  
I shook my head up and down slowly. That seemed to convince him to spill the rest of it. This should be good. Wonder what sort of magic they are – because they were certainly magic. I was a rational person, all the math pointed that they weren't just a mere figment of my leaking imagination. Bets had been on dead spirits of past people, which explains their knowledge of Mary. Spectrum might even have been an old flame. And that theory relates well with them saving me in the alleyway – Death had to be involved somehow. Made me wonder what would happen if I became an undead?

Trog took a breath, then gave me the truth _. "Well it's like this: We voices in your head can 'transfer' from universe to universe; you're not the only person we guide and interact with."_  
I…. what?  
 _"_ _You see, usually one of us sets up a 'path' or 'gateway' to interact with another universe and after that it's up to the rest of us to start interacting and discussing how to guide things while they update us and give us feedback on how things are going. They're the only ones that can truly peak into the universe they've picked after all; Some can poke through and catch glimpses, but that tends to be rare."_

"I'm… I'm going to scout out around," I muttered out to the group. Needed some distance here. Felt better to talk out loud then to think in my head. Manato turned my direction, followed by that accusing eyebrow of his. But he nodded, "It's pretty quiet for now, but I'll never say no to being more cautious. Don't stray too far."

It was only two minutes before I felt comfortable talking. "So let me get this straight, you're trans-dimensional beings that travel from universe to universe like it was nothing, with a purpose to help one person in each universe. And one of you is holding a magic mirror or something while the rest of you are…. looking into it?"  
Trog nodded, _"_ _We've termed these 'gates' Quests, mainly due to the fact that whoever we end up connecting with usually needs guidance while they're on a quest or in the middle of a large trial. Generally speaking we're not quite as personal with others as we are with you, but for some reason you can actually hear the comments we make. Which is a pretty big change, so that can attract a bit more...participation from the rest of us."_ Lot of questions threw themselves at me. I'm not lying when I say plenty of them were about my own sanity here. I have voices in my head.

And they just told me they're gods.

 _"_ _I've been around for a bit, so if you want to know more about us feel free to ask; I like showing off all the little connections I've seen."_ Trog finished anticlimactically. Mulling it over, I was left with a lot of confusion. Did it make sense? Yes. Everything made sense put together. Dimensional beings wouldn't care if one universe ended with me dying, they'd just hop on over to a parallel one where I didn't. Or haven't. Time probably moves differently for them. I've been stuck in this world for a week and two days. How much time has passed for them? A year? Five minutes? Do they even keep track by the same measurements? I got a feeling they could easily skip years if they wanted, as easily as just writing down a year had gone by.

Holy hell, was I actually taking this seriously? They're goddamn voices. **In. My. Head.** I'm just crazy and they're a reflection of that. Complete and utter insanity here. Voices in your head are liable to say anything. Like even one god would notice me, let alone a dozen of them. I've got some serious problem with my ego here. I grunted, scratching my head furiously. But. That word is the problem. But - what if they're not lying? What if they are who they say they are? I can't discredit that. And they've yet to lead me astray either. All the evidence points to yes. As crazy as it all sounds, what if it's all absolutely true?

 _"_ _Now, as for knowing about Mary; We have a special power that helps us in guiding the lucky smuck stuck with us: We can delve into the Archives."_ Trog continued, having politely waited for my half-mental-breakdown to abate. I groaned loudly. By now, I had wondered close enough to hear the sounds of a river. Loud one at that. Swift water and the likes. It drew me forward, soothing.  
 _"_ _You see, the Archives are made up of the knowledge of worlds. Weaponry, tactics, people, places, powers, abilities, creatures, cooking, and so on and so forth. While we might not poke into the Universe that we gathered our original data for the archive from, the baseline is usually enough to cover most of the variances."_

Just what sort of beings Trog and the rest must be like? Do they even see reality the same way I do? I couldn't grasp at how different the world must be for these god entities. It boggled my mind to no end. They might exist as pure information from the sound of things, unable to affect this world in any physical shape period. Information that's _conscious_ of its existence. Wrapping my head around that was ridiculous, but who the hell could know what a trans-dimensional being is like?

 _"_ _Now yes, that can cover future events depending on the when. Accessing Universes is difficult, sometimes we hit a Universe with events taking place later or earlier than the baseline we have archived; getting a stable gate or Quest is even more difficult, but I could go on about that for a long time."_

"All right." I mumbled, "So you're not omnipotent. There's still some restrictions to being able to jump into any world you want, at any moment. And keeping whatever link you've got to a world tends to be a trial as well." I wanted to write this all down on my journal, but the fear that anyone might read it was huge. And I already knew it'd be written in English – which would make it completely unreadable to anyone else.

 _"_ _So right now, some of us are delving into the Archive for data relating to the baseline we have of your world."_ I instantly thought back at Arbit's discussion with Spectrum on what spells Shihoru was supposed to have. It suddenly made more sense. _"_ _Your world is a different universe than the one we have Archived though, so some data might not be right. So far the majority of it seems in line with what we have."_ Trog ended, floating past the trees as I walked.

So they had knowledge of a parallel world, and they're messing with this copy – and now it's slightly different because of it. Why?  
 _"_ _Um, hope that satisfied you; If you want me to extrapolate or focus on some individual parts just lemme know and I can."_

"It… satisfied me." I answered slowly. "I don't even know where to start… actually I do. I'll start by believing it first. I think I'll go insane if I tried not to."  
Reached the riverside now. It was wide, and the water was oddly transparent. Clear enough to drink probably.  
"….I've got a few questions. You all showed up in this world because something bad happened in the… the original world, right? And you're gods, or may as well be gods, so it had to be something big. Something that ruined that world, only reason I can think of that would attract…err, entities like you. So what happened? What is it that I'm supposed to stop? There's got to be a reason for all…. this." I finished, waving my hand vaguely at everything around me.

No answer came. That must have been the end of his pre-recorded message because he'd faded from view. Was it really pre-recorded? Sometimes it felt like I was talking to them in present, other times not… "Why am I even bothering about that? They're beings that bend _time_ and _space_." I sighed, spending fifteen more minutes watching the current flow through my hands, and wondering how many seconds a quarter of an hour in my world took in… wherever they exist. But nothing happened, and like Kate once said – you wake up the next day and nothing's changed. There's still dirt under my feet, and enemies lurking behind the trees. Not the right time to have an existential crisis.

Beta popped up then, _"_ _Been a bit quiet. Keep your eyes awake, make sure Yume doesn't get dragged off into the forest by something while dealing with the Chimos or the ring doesn't explode or something."_ Right. Should get back to them quick now. I tightened my grip on the spear and focused my attention around as I stepped through the forest. _"_ _Oh yeah if you catch it, bury the hand."_ Arbit added on to Beta's warnings, _"_ _Most like you or Manato will do it though, and be wary - there might be an undead nearby if that hand is an indicator…"_

When I returned, Yume had succeeded. Found her petting the Chimos happily; it had given up its meal in exchange for licking Yume's glittering hands relentlessly. I think I arrived just a moment after she'd succeeded too.  
"How did you do that?" Haru asked, scooping up the dead finger. Ranta looked heartbroken, but didn't do anything terrible either. "Eheh, Yume had gem dust in her pack! Yume's guild master gave it to her, you sprinkle it on your arrows and they become more accurate! It didn't help Yume much though…"  
"Good thinking on the dust, didn't even know gems were magical in origin." Manato thought, to which Yume only looked back slightly surprised. "They are?" She asked. "Yume just thought the glitter would make the chimos like her more."

"Yume," I said, "Next time, just say 'Yes! I knew it all along!' trust me."  
The girl puffed out her chest, "Yume knew all along the gems were magic. How's that?"  
"No you didn't!" Ranta gripped, "You totally did that by chance!"  
Haru turned to shoot something out at Ranta, I didn't really bother to hear. "Yep," I answered the hunter with a pat on her head, "Exactly like that."

It appeared out of thin air really, like a specter. Slashed rags and frayed leather adorned its ribcage and whatever was left of its legs. Its left hand grasped a rusted shank, while the right conspicuously lacked a hand. It lumbered forward with a careless cat's gait. Deadly. Indifferent. Uncaring. That's all the time I had to see it before it had reached Mogzo and stabbed him deep in the gut, twisted the short sword and slashed it out with unholy strength. I saw blood and worse spill from the open wound. I still can't remember where it had been a moment before it reached Mogzo's side.

Shiharu screamed, reacting first out of all of us. All she managed to do was step backwards and fall flat however.  
The rest of us were stunned, except for Ranta. He hadn't waited a moment before descending on the walking remains of a rogue.  
"BASTARD!" He screamed, slamming himself right into the dead man. He lost his footing and stumbled forward with the undead. For a moment, it looked like he had the advantage. Then the carcass spun on itself with uncanny agility, quickly falling on top of Ranta. I saw blood, it had stabbed the boy in the back. "GAAAH! HELP!"  
By that point, Manato and I had reached the specter. Two jabs of my spear forced the enemy backwards with a quick step and off our downed dread knight. It observed me quietly, left hand bringing the bloody shank up. Held in a reverse grip I noticed, close to it's forearm bastard was planning on deflecting my stabs. Its right arm hung limply at the side, eerily unused.

I stepped forward, past Manato, shield up and ready. The priest on his part quickly began to administer first aid to the wounded.  
"Sobato, be careful!" He grunted at me from behind, like I'd need to know that. I was literally facing a dead man walking.  
I didn't bother asking Manato if he'd be able to heal Mogzo, I trusted him. There was only one thing for me to do – my job.

I struck first, spear jabbed quickly forward, testing it's reaction. As expected, the monster simply brushed the iron aside with the flat of its blade. Despite lacking life, the skeleton seemed to move just as quickly as it must have in life. On my third jab it saw an opening.  
Almost in the blink of an eye it deflected my strike and dashed straight at my shield. I let go of my spear, activating [CRITICAL EYE] at the same time. No words were needed, unlike other abilities, critical eye was purely a mental skill.

Mostly red dots littered its body. The rotted armor offered it no protection.  
First second. I reached my now empty hand for my dagger. The dead rogue had made it to my shield, striking for the gap on my right. I moved the shield in slow motion, solid enough that I knew I'd intercept the blow.  
Second second. Impact. I felt the shank drive down into the shield, embedding itself into the wood. A force began to exert my shield to the side immediately after. The enemy was using its dagger as a tool to pry my defense away. I forced my feet to move, already anticipating his hit, my right hand committed on its dagger stab.  
That's when my heart sunk. The Draugr hadn't just planned to pry the shield away, it had matched it's footwork to attack as well. Now, the bony hands had let go of the embedded dagger, the skeleton spinning around itself and jutting forward to stab my stomach with its palm. I had one last look as its knucklebones were entombed in bright blue magic, quickly forming into a blade mirroring the outstretched hand.

Time returned to normal. My dagger sunk into the thing's ribcage, cracking several. At the same time, I felt his hand skewer into me dealing just as much damage, if not outright worse. My footwork carried me off and a few wild slashes with my dagger forced it away with a backstep. The distance only worked against the Draugr as an arrow smashed into its face not a moment after. It stumbled backwards, reeling before snapping back on its foot. An angry ball of light the size of my fist zoomed straight at the zombie, missing by a hair. The undead reacted by diving to ground in an attempt to avoid any further missiles. None came at it.  
"SOBATO!" Yume shrieked out.  
"I'm f-fine!" I'm not fine. "It's just a scratch!" The thing had dug a good six inches of magic infused razor sharp finger bones into my ribs. I couldn't breathe right anymore. Lung must have been stabbed too. If Richard hadn't spent the last three days of the training stabbing and slashing at me, I wouldn't have kept composure here.

"Kill it!" Ranta screamed, "What are you waiting for?!" He dove past me followed by Haru and Mogzo, the three approaching the skeleton from every side. "[ANGER TH-" And Ranta didn't even manage to finish, before the undead nimbly ducked and knocked Ranta's footing with a swift kick. Haru's strike met the undead's forearms, biting into it, but not enough to shatter. The skeleton dashed backwards as a huge broadsword struck the tree it had stood in front of a moment ago. Skull grinning, eyes emotionless, the thief observed us all, probing for a weakness. Haru didn't follow, not without Ranta at his side. Mogzo was busy pulling his sword out of the trunk. Once good distance was put, its eyes were set upon mine. Left hand extended slowly. I saw blue light gathering on the tips and instinctively ducked behind my kite shield.

Nothing happened.

I chanced at glance at it, and realized what it had done. The whisps of magic faded like vapor around its reclaimed shank, held in that lone hand. I noticed with a dry swallow that my shield no longer had the rusted metal decoration the dead thing had so generously donated early on. It then took one step backwards and _receded_ into the shadows.  
"Stealth." Haru grunted at me.  
"Fuc…kkk." I glared. "I d-don't think…" It was a struggle to breath, coughing. Felt like I was slowly suffocating. Blood must be pooling in my lungs. "...Not done with us yet."  
"Haruhiro, how can we catch it out of stealth?" Manato asked, reaching my side just in time. I heard him mutter under his breath, "O light, under the divine grace of Lord Luminous… [CURE]."

Like a weight had been lifted, I felt everything clear from my system. Wasn't the first time I got healed so I knew what to expect. Manato on his part looked pale.  
"Not sure, haven't learned stealth yet." Haru said, eyes glancing around him.  
We were in some pretty bad shit. Whatever that skeleton was, it wasn't new to fighting. My mind raced through everything I knew about the undead and came back wanting.

 _"Turtle formation, tanks on opposite sides, melee dps to the flanks, squishies in the center."_ Spectrum barked off quickly, _"Withdraw tightly as a group towards more open territory, such as a clearing, and then reassess."_ Didn't have to tell me twice. I licked my lips nervously, eyes shifting left and right searching for any sign of the undead thing. "Stick together!" Manato shouted at my side weakly, it seemed like the man was running on just vapors already. He tried to throw out another command but went into a coughing fit instead, I caught his eyes. _Help_ , they asked, almost feverishly. "Mogzo, take the rear, I'll cover the front! Yume, Shiharou, stay by our center and grab Manato with you. Haru, Ranta, opposite sides, protect our center! Now!" I commanded, taking over for our leader.  
"What?!" Ranta yelped, he didn't bother looking in my direction with that outburst, eyes peeled for any sign of the missing specter. "Why do they get the center? I should get the center, you all should be protecting me!"  
"Not the time, Stay focused, we'll make it!" I threw back with more authority then I thought possible. I could tell he was fumbling, scared, reeling. But my voice grounded him. **  
**  
"We'll retreat back to the previous clearing, keep your eyes peeled and your weapons ready." The team heeded my words and quickly formed up as instructed. In the clearing, the skeleton will lose some advantage, but not enough I feared. No way I'd voice that out loud, just having a goal to march with was enough for the group right now. I moved us forward at a slow jog, keeping a keen eye at the group's cohesion. Manato on his part could barely walk anymore. Whatever was taking his energy wasn't stopping, he looked progressively worse. Thankfully, both girls had picked up on it as well.

 _"Spreading out is probably a bad idea and I don't like the idea of retreating straight away so I'll agree with spectrum here."_ Jazzberry agreed, followed by Arbit just as quickly.

 _"Fighting retreat. Slow and steady. Do not split the party."_ Beta glared around the forest, then quickly filled me on combat details. Arbit and Spectrum both threw in their own as well.  
Didn't wait for them to finish, moving while they spoke. Every second we spend here is another second the enemy has to plan with.  
"We need a safe spot to retreat to," I threw out into the wind, looking for suggestions. "Town's several hours away, we'll never make it that far. If we can't, we'll have to fight it and win." I racked my mind furiously, trying to find something – somewhere were the Dragur wouldn't follow. The group grimly looked back, no one had any ideas.  
 _"Stealth types pick enemies 1 by 1,"_ Arbit followed alongside throwing out his advice. The next caught my attention, _"And move them near a river or any running water - cause if you can't hold off or fight it, remember undead can't pass running water."_

That's it. I remembered the bookshop just then, the memory pouring into my mind.  
 _"Huh,"_ beta commented, _"Nice recollection."_  
"Everyone, I scouted out a river earlier, undead are weak to flowing water – it won't be able to follow us there. We just need to hold out for a few more minutes!"  
That brought up the mood considerably. Salvation was within reach, and the group could feel it. Perhaps the Dragur also understood our attention, for that's when it chose to attack. Our formation was too tight-knit for the Dragur to attack head on. So it didn't.

An iron shank flew from the surroundings, carving through the air with a lethal whistle. I couldn't see it, but I'd heard it. Along with the awful wet squelch and muted grunt.  
"Mogzo!" I heard Yume shriek behind me, they'd stopped jogging and our formation was quickly stretched thin. I turned around to glance, "How ba-" and immediately sprinted to Mogzo's side the moment I saw for myself.

His sword had been dropped, while both hands clutched at his left side, holding the pommel of that iron shank. Already it was glowing blue, about to be yanked out. I didn't waste a moment, "Defend, I've got this," I snarled at Haru and Ranta. The two quickly took guard positions as our defensive retreat turned into a last stand. "Yume, grab the bandages," A slight toss and my bag was off my shoulder thrown haphazardly behind me. I didn't hear it hit the ground. My hands reached Mogzo's side in moments, already tearing away at the clothing surrounding his wound.  
"There it is!" Ranta shouted to my side, "Get it! Get it! Someone get it!" Bad idea, that thing could easily murder any of us one on one. "I've got a plan," I threw out at Ranta, "Stick to it. If we break formation, it'll kill us one at a time!" At least, I think I've got a plan.  
Ranta nodded, sword ready and taking a position in front of Mogzo. I threw a look to see – and indeed Ranta had spotted it.

Alone, standing a few steps in the distance. It wasn't the bones or the lack of gear that truly put my hairs on end – it was the aura of despair that surrounded it. As if nothing mattered to it, that it was ready – no, compelled – to hunt us down to the very end. Unthinking, _machine like._ Left hand outstretched, glowing slightly blue, resonating with the shank a few inches in front of me.

I felt a fury behind me, once more a ball of light flung from our Mage but this time her attack struck true. The skeleton reeled backwards, just as the shank appeared in its good hand.  
Immediately, Mogzo's side began to bleed in a torrent. "Bandages!" I barked with an edge of panic. Too much blood. Too much.  
"Here!" Yume finally arrived at my side then, shoving every bandage in my direction. Most of them dropped on the floor as I grabbed one and immediately applied it to the open wound. The white linen straightaway clouded red, absorbing the blood. Then it tightened, shrinking on itself. I could see the skin, glued to the bandage now and stretched along with the bandage. Then it stopped. Like a complete seal, no more blood flowed out of his wound. "I… I think that did it. Mogzo, can you stand?"  
The giant grunted, taking up his blade once more. "I-I'm okay. We can make it."

Besides me, Yume had noosed and fired an arrow wildly. Ranta paced around the outskirts, and Haru simply clutched his knife, hand shaking slightly. "Back in formation," I snapped, snatching the discard bandages around me and stuffing them down the returned bag.  
Manato was lucid, but couldn't even stand by now. That didn't stop our group for a moment, the girls lifted him up and forced him to follow the pace I set.

A second shot flew out at us from my side this time, aimed at Haru. Fortune was with us for once on that one, as the blade whisked through the air, and shuddered to a stop on a tree trunk having missed its mark. We didn't stop to gawk, forward we pressed, desperate for escape.

The river peeked coyly through the trees, only a few hundred meters from us. At our rate, it would take us a minute to reach. One very long minute.  
Once more, the shank flew through the air with vengeance. Luck didn't favor our own thief, I heard a scream and thud as the boy stumbled into the forest ground. His calf had been cleanly skewered by the metal. Mogzo grabbed his collar, dragging him along with the group. We shared a glance, _It's not terrible. Keep moving._ I did just that. We reached the riverbed, the group seemed to collapse nearby. I took a glance at my surroundings. Short clearing, sand under my feet, no trees to hide behind.

Yume had grabbed my bag to my side, already ruftling through looking for the spare bandages. I kept a critical eye around, looking for our pursuer. "Make sure there's no clothing, apply it directly to the skin. White side down, grey side up, otherwise your hands will get glued together," I muttered absentmindedly, attention taken. Yume nodded, scurrying away to Haru a moment after. Quick head count told me we were all accounted for. Then our eight showed from the side of the clearing. It walked slowly into the sunlight, right arm limp, left hand already clutching its weapon. The thing observed us for a moment, as if deciding how to proceed now.  
We might have reached the river, but water would undo the bandages on Mogzo and Haru. We couldn't cross just yet. Options. Options.

Magic seemed to be something that's limited in use. Critical eye couldn't be used more than twice in a fight without meditation. Manato must have used his cure spell one too many times. Shihoru didn't look like she would throw another spell – something the skeleton seemed to know, as it hadn't returned to stealth just yet. Then, as if commanded suddenly, it took a step forward.

Yume finished tending to Haru, as she quickly brought out her bow and arrow. That got a reaction out of the dead thief. It vanished the moment she nooked and aimed. The skeleton had a good half minute to throw its shank at us, why hadn't it? I thought, already taking a stance next to Mogzo. Weapons draw, we prepared. Magic must cut both ways. It couldn't use that weapon returning spell five times in a fight.

"Listen up," I breathed, "We've got to kill it. No choice. The moment it touches water, it should be purified – so we'll corner it into the river. Understood?" The group grunted their agreement besides me. Now how the fuck are we going to make that work? Not like we could ask it nicely.

Of all people to appear then, it was Trog. _"We'll talk more on about the voices later; this was not the impression I wanted to leave you with."_ He apologized, but rightfully understood the situation. He seemed to glance critically at the situation, Arbit next to him commented, _"And spectrum seem want to strangle you cause of it."_ Trogglanced nervously, _"I noticed yeah, he probably didn't like how my explanation brought S.B's spirits down."  
"And if your plan come through, Manato might think S.B. is a precog or something."_  
Trog agreed but didn't seem to perturbed by that, _"Eh, better to make sure everyone survive and have questions then let someone die;It might not work anyway..."_  
Then he flew forward, searching for the skeleton. No words were shared, but a feeling was passed. He'd shadow the dead thing, giving us an advantage. That was his plan.

Finding it wasn't a problem. It found us instead. Intent on Haru, the skeleton almost materialized right on top of our thief. Haru dived to the side, just as the broken blade stabbed through. Mogzo, Ranta and I instantly converged on the dead thing, forcing it back and protecting Haru behind a wall of wood and steel. It jumped back in time before any of us were in range to strike at it again – likely about to restealth. But it hadn't anticipated one factor.

I felt Trog descend on the undead, smothering it. The skeleton continued its actions, giving itself more distance and disappearing from sight once more. But Trog trailed after it, each second taking up more and more of its space. The skeleton moved quite quicker while hidden, if Trog's movement was to be accurate. Bastard must have been keeping its abilities hidden. Then its movements slowed down from a sprint to a jog, and from a jog to a crawl. It stopped moments after. I saw it unstealth in full view, wavering for a second. Then it went still.

We glanced nervously among each other, but the thing in front of us had not moved for anything. "What's it doing?" Ranta asked, "Is it recharging? Well don't let it! We should hit it now while we've got the chance!"  
"Let me get its attention, I've got a shield. Hit it from its side if you see an opening, everyone who can move, surround it!" I mentally scrolled through everything the voices had mentioned. Shield bash, effective. Prepare for it's attempts to backstab. Use weak points in our formation to bait the dead thing into overextending. Grapple if it I had to.  
 _  
Trog?_ I thought. No answer. I could still feel his invisible presence surrounding the skeleton, infused inside even the bones now. Trog… felt like he was _digesting_ a particularly large meal.

We advanced forward, the skeleton made no reaction. It simply stood still, as if a puppet. Closer we drew, and still the thing made no motion to attack. I waved my spear around the sides, Ranta and Haru understood, circling around the left. Mogzo limbered over to the right. In moments, we had quietly closed our surround a good fifteen feet from the river. Whatever it was doing, the thing couldn't escape any longer.

It was as if it didn't even see us - no, as if it could but had no care in the world on doing anything about it. I saw it sway lightly in the wind, automatically balancing with minute movements, the thing was definitely conscious. With a closer look, I realized just how bad shape the eerie monstrosity was in. Its jaw had fractured, half was missing. Must have been from Yume's earlier hit. One of the ribs had been broken and hung loose, kept together by what looked like a tangled spider web. Other ribs were just missing or fractured, and there were fissures running like concrete cracks all over. Now that I had a more critical view, I realized one thing: The undead was positively ancient. It must have been in these woods for months at the very least. Dirt and dead insect corpses littered body in the nooks and crannies. One leather pouch remained on its side, tied loosely to the faded leather belt.  
"The fuck is it planning…" Ranta muttered, "We're gonna kill you – you know that right?! What the hell. What the hell…"


	9. Chapter 9

"If you all aren't going to stab it, then I'll kill it first!" Ranta lashed out at us, but oddly enough he made no move to attack the skeleton.  
"Think it's trying to trick us?" Our own quite-living thief questioned cautiously.  
"If it were, I don't see any advantage to standing still while four armed men surround you. Might have its brains rotten, but it's mind clearly remembers how to fight." I answered back just as wearily. Trog's presence remained fixed inside the skeleton, twirling lazily around. No answer came back from him. A terrible feeling came up in my mind – what if Trog was fighting whatever commanded the undead? And what if he lost?  
"Manato!" I heard Yume yell behind me. That got a glance from all of us, for a second no one kept track of the skeleton. A rookie mistake.

Our priest had fallen unconscious. "What's going on to him?!" Haru yelled out, and it was Shiharou that answered.  
"Magic withdrawal… He, he used too much. He needs to rest for fifteen minutes I think,"  
"But he'll be all right?"  
"Umm, yes. Yes!"  
That got a breather from us all. Manato was out of the action now, but we're mostly safe. Because the moment we turned our attention back on the enemy, to our relief it hadn't taken a single move.

 _"_ _... What the hell just happened?"_ Jazz muttered to the side, and that sentiment was equally voiced among the others in my head. Did Trog just renegade on everyone else?  
Don't think so, the rest just seemed surprised he took the risk. Beta on his part seemed to be waiting for Trog to leave the skeleton's body, like a wolf waiting on a deer. Spectrum had a fan appear in hand, ready to punish someone. A look that said it would be used, and it would be used well.

Seemed like the individual in question got a wiff of that. _"_ _I think I shifted vessels; I am a voice in the undead now."_ He shouted out from his cozy spot inside a certain dead thing's head. _"_ _I meant to cover shadow it so S.B. would be able to see it even when stealthed (by seeing me over it, like I'm a plate of armor or something) but it appears I've overshadowed it or something."_ You… took control over it? Is that even possible? I thought you were all just hallucinations! If you're not, then… trans-dimentional beings I reminded myself. Right. Bullshit trans-dimentional beings are bullshit. They can tell the future, know people that I haven't even met yet, yank me from a dead end and possess the undead. Clearly, pulling a rabbit out of a hat is too old fashion in these days.

 **WAIT!** I'm totally not complaining. Seriously! I mean, that thing _stabbed_ me. With its **hand**. And this time Manato's in no shape to throw out Cure left and right anymore. Getting stabbed _again_ is totally off the table. Good thinking Trog, saved my bacon here. Or at least, saved us from pain. I was reasonably sure we'd win the fight against it, but it would definitely have cost us. This is much simpler. Cookies for you, I'll try to imagine a snack bar. With punch. And vodka.

Trog's presence seemed to shrug, receding further into the bones. _"_ _I'll figure out more in the morning."_ He said and I felt him vanish as the last thought tickled the side of my mind. Almost as if hibernating come to think of it. The skeleton didn't react, it seemed Trog kept a firm control over it.  
The voices clamored around in my head, debating among each other in quiet whispers on what to do. Jury was still out on lunch break it seemed. Then a new voice joined in, startling the others. _"_ _At last after a thousand years I am free, time to...Hoh now this is interesting,"_ It said, curiosity clearly peeked. Well if I didn't know better, I'd say that's villain monologue 101… come to think of it - you wouldn't happen to be the skeleton by any chance? Because appearing at the same time Trog evicts whoever's been controlling that thing over there doesn't seem like a mere coincidence. I know I'm paranoid, but I've made a successful career out of it thus far. Besides, come to think of it - I'm insane already, that's total justification to be paranoid on top.

Backtracking for a moment here: Who the hell are you anyhow?  
I didn't expect an answer back at least for a bit, but I was happily proved wrong on this occasion. _"_ _My full name is Nuclear power,"_ He said in a grand voice, _"_ _But you can call me nuclear S.B. Now let's see if this works."_ He ominously finished.  
Well. Nuclear. Welcome to the club? I'll have Arbit point you to the snack bar. Cookies are Trog's though, hands off.

"Sobato, ideas?" Haru threw out bringing me back into reality. Shit. Had to placate them real quick until I could decide just what the fuck Trog was up to – because it was clear no one had any goddamn idea what to do.  
My fat mouth opened, "I think the river idea worked. I was… doing a ritual I read about earlier and…uh, the dragur got caught in it." Yea. That'll work for now. "Hang on a minute, I'm still finishing it up. Lot of mental work." Rest of the group shifted uneasily at that.  
"You sure it's working? If it attacks me, you better pay compensation! You're gonna pay me silver you hear?! Silver!" Ranta threw out, keeping his eyes centered on the pacified skeleton. Nuclear on his part, clearly planned to do something. He stretched out in the direction of the Skeleton, commanding it. The rest of the voices in the background also took actions right then and there, not wanting to get behind maybe. And they went the complete opposite route – destroy it.

Beta began a sermon, _"_ _We therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, looking for that blessed hope when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first."_ He said solemnly, with reverence. It sounded familiar to me, but again I couldn't tell where I'd heard it. Past memories, perhaps. Then he opened his eyes and spoke what was probably really on his mind. _"_ _Go away spooky skeletal guy. Go pass on so you can meet the one true goddess Neptune, get some cheat skill, and reincarnate in another world with a bigass harem. Shoo!"_  
I got no words. He was clearly going to a better place. Rest in peace you lucky bastard.

Trog returned then, and I felt him command the undead immediately. It seemed to twitch, the conflicting orders breaking like waves over it. Right. Time to move. I quickly shouted out my will, "Ok, it's done. Mogzo, grab it's right arm. I'll grab the left. Haru, Ranta keep an eye over it. If it tries to fight back, stab it in its skull. Everyone clear?" Resounding nods, everyone was on board. Let's purify an undead thing without a priest. We approached slowly. The thing remained passive, uncaring. With a nod to each other, we lunged at the same time, grabbing the thing.  
My impressions of it: It felt like I was grabbing cold brittle, but smooth enough wood. It wasn't strong at all, or rather, it didn't fight back. In moments, I had the dreadful shank removed from its good hand, and pinned it to the back, almost breaking the bones. Mogzo had grabbed the right handless arm and done similar.

"Haru, grab it's pouch, got to keep our priorities in line." I threw out, and the thief did just that. With a quick slice of the blade, the leather pouch was now free and in better hands.  
"Now, we're going to walk it to the river and dunk it inside. If theory is correct, it should purify the skeleton." With a tug on the dead hand, I briefed my team on the next part of this crazy plan. Seriously. We can just walk this thing over to it's death uncontested? The realist in me says _you're goddamn insane if you think it could possibly be that easy._

And the realist in me was totally, hilariously, wrong. We took a few shuffled steps forward, and the skeleton followed without hesitation. Closer and closer we got to the river and no attempt to free itself happened. Then we reached the river.  
Mogzo took a step into the water, sinking his boots inside the sandbed. The skeleton equally took a step, but its foot didn't even make it to the bottom.

Two things I noticed right then. First - In less than a second, all I was left holding was just a fragmented bone. Whatever had kept the skeleton's joints animated simply ceased to be the moment its foot touched water. There wasn't any light, no holy angel descending upon the wicked. One moment it walked, the next it was just a pile of disconnected bones, some of which were already being carried away by the stream.

Second – The moment Trog's presence was clear of the skeleton, he was immediately and mercilessly suplexed into oblivion by an angry Beta. Crazy bastards, couldn't help but chuckle at their antics. _"_ _You guys are all being way too cruel to me,"_ Trog said, clearly upset. _"_ _I made an attempt to help and in the process discovered something really useful to us."_  
Arbit was having none of that. _"_ _I think the reason some of them are harsh is because it happen in front of the party."_ Beta stoically remained to Arbit's side, arms ready to suplex again. Spectrum had a massive fan in hand, and it looked primed to hit the first smartass in its sights. Fortunately, I happen to be immune. I think. I'm honestly not sure, but I'd rather not test any theories here.  
Trog seemed to shrug, _"_ _Sure it happened it front of the party; but they'll just have a wild tale to tell at the end of the day."_ That's the understatement of the year. First time party goes into the woods, runs into literally the worst possible thing. We're going to be local celebrities. I'll even keep its skull as proof. _"_ _Two - S.B. was away for a while which might make them think he summon the undead."_ Arbit continued, arms folded. Trog had an answer to that, _"_ _I'm not gonna have the undead follow SB's orders;"_ Come on Trog, old buddy old pal. It would have been pretty awesome, admit it. _"_ _This Vessel is mine and I'm getting rid of it."_ He seemed to say both to me and Arbit. The latter got to his final point, _"_ _And three - from shock and surprise."_  
Trog opened his mouth, then closed it thinking. _"_ _That's a good point, but Suplexing me?! That's completely uncalled for!"_ I swear I saw Beta smirk smugly at that.  
An image of a little girl pulling off the same move Beta had done, on a giant stuffed teddy bear passed through my mind. It was sort of, kind of, utterly adorable.  
Trog cryptically mubled, "Harsh." At that.  
Arbit just replied, "At least it's the cute version." And that was it – they all vanished then leaving me alone with the thoughts of that suplexed bear.

I let go of the leftovers in my hand, tossing it into the river and watching as the waters simply carried it away. "Fly free you bastard. Hope you meet that harem." My own voice muttered to myself mostly. Mogzo just sighed in relief, a sentiment shared by every single person here.  
"It's over." Haru breathed, dropping on the ground and staring down the river. If you squinted, you could still see some of the arm bones float away. Its cracked skull on the other hand had sunk right by my feet, half submerged. Of course, I snatched it up and stuffed it in my bag. Trog had been right at least, we got a story to tell – and it needs a good proof. In this world, anything human that's not burned will return as the dead. Having a skull – that's not actively trying to bite your finger off – is proof that you've fought and defeated that enemy.

I took a moment to compose myself. Just because we've won, doesn't mean there won't be a goblin that decides now is a great moment to attack. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious death after all. "Let's break camp here while we wait for Manato to recover. How's the wound Mogzo?" I shot out at my friendly giant. He turned a peaceful, if somewhat strained smile. "I'm fine… I think. It would have been bad if you didn't bring bandages."  
"Yeah, well I can't take all the credit for that one." I said, "I had a few hints to buy some."

The next few minutes were leisurely. All in all, you had to admit the forest was a pretty place. The only downsides were that almost everything hiding behind the trees wanted to brutally murder you and eat your face, but on the positive side, we hadn't run into any spiders. There wasn't much talk as we sat in a circle, Haru and Yume took their usual spots further out, keeping an eye for the group. Rest of us just took our well-earned break.

Jazzberry spotted a squirrel by the trees. Without a word, he drifted up and enveloped the tiny animal. It twitched for a moment, before leaping away, clearly spooked about something. I watched with one eye, clearly Trog had started some sort of fashion trend here.

There was some discussion though. Ranta started it up.  
"Sobato." He asked, with a way more serious quip then I'd ever heard him. "Did you get a necromancer to train you a skill or something?"

"…"  
We stared at each other for a moment. Then he threw himself on the ground, head bowed down to the sand in a full on dogenza.  
"TEACH ME SENSEI. ONEGAI ITASHIMASU!" … He's completely hopeless.  
"We'll talk when we're in town later today, okay?" I placated him for now. Voices, we're gonna have to figure a way out of this one quick. Or just invent something on the spot.  
His face shot up, sand still stuck to the brow. The look on his eyes had that childlike sparkle turned up so bright I could fucking _see_ it. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"  
It took a few minutes to settle him down.

Ranta's next exploits was to snatch the pouch from Haru's hand and open it. The thief's last worldly possessions had an interesting story to tell. For one, the ex-thief didn't carry any money on him. Instead, it looked like he had been smuggling gems when he'd died. About three large ones, and six smaller ones. Most were blue, a few were yellow and one was green. Yume wanted the emerald, even though it was a smaller gem. Color must have gotten her attention I suppose. Even Ranta didn't mind giving that one up to her without contest – after all, his eyes were set on the larger blue ones. "Jackpot!" He screamed, "I'm gonna buy a mansion with this! No! TWO MANSIONS! And women! Lots and lots of women!"  
Haru shot Ranta a look that spelled _utter scum_ all over it. Considering Manato was still out of it, I had to take control of the situation as the second in command here. "We'll divide the spoils once we get back home and have all the time to talk it over. Agreed?" Everyone nodded, even Yume who had a sad expression putting back her gem. "Don't worry Yume," Haru said, "Everyone's ok with you getting that. I'm sure Manato would say the same." That cheered her up easily.

The second item was much more interesting. (Because even if the gems were large, I seriously doubt Ranta would buy house with one. I got a feeling we wouldn't even be able to sell all three for more than a gold – which don't get me wrong, is still a good amount of money here.)

Inside the pouch was a folded up map of the forest, and on one part, a tiny red X, followed by scribbles showing trails leading up to it. On the flip side of the map was neatly scribbled writing. I thanked the voices that I'd spent time learning how to read otherwise this would have been totally useless until I got back to town.

 ** _Mark,_**

 **Fred confirmed that the Tyule's stopped sniffing the black market for their stuff a good month ago. Been a long time coming, but the payday is finally here. Grab the loot out of the chest and meet us at HQ. I've got a few buyers lined up already. Don't forget the gems from last job too, obviously.**

There was no signature of course. The group looked at me for a moment, thinking about what it meant. Ranta already had an opinion. "So, they stole something, hid it in the forest, and then when the heat dies down, send their man to go pick it up again. Except he probably dies somewhere in this forest before he makes it. Too bad for him but his loot's ours now! Can't be helped you know, it's just the way this world works. How far away is it Sobato?"  
I… well, that made sense I suppose. I gave the messy haired Dread Knight his answer, "A few hours away, if the map matches ours – which it does for the most part. Looks like it'll lead us by the mountain ridge. Probably hidden someplace hard to get to, so add a few extra hours."  
"Yume thinks that's a bad idea, Yume doesn't like stealing things." Our hunter disagreed. Shiharou nodded alongside her.  
Haru seemed on the edge, he couldn't make up his mind. Ranta noticed that. "What?! Come on Haruhiro! They stole something good! You want money right? Right?! It's like money just dropped from the sky on us, we'd be stupid to ignore that! Idiots! Retards!"  
"That's not what I think!" Haru shoved Ranta aside, but he didn't exactly disagree with the plan either.  
"If we get started now, we can come back home just before nightfall! Quit being a coward and just toughen up already!" Ranta's inner greedy pig was showing its colors.  
Mogzo didn't seem to have an opinion. And Manato would wake up in a few minutes. He might break the tide.

As for me…  
 _"Time to get the hell out, no more heroics SB."_ Spectrum said in a worried tone before I could even open my mouth and answer. _Yes moth_ \- shutting up now. No-no-no-no Wait! I'm innocent, not the fan! Sure, it's serious, but I can't help poking fun at it.

 _"Everyone's got wounds, your casters are running dry, you have sufficient loot."_ Spectrum continued, making a point. _"You're also definitely not strong enough to go near the ridge yet, you can barely fight off hard encounters in the forest. If you have to fight more undead not near water and the Collective can't pull miracles out, you're going to be in deep shit."_

She was serious. Maybe it was the post-fight adrenaline high going down, but I realized just how close we had gotten to being killed. Was the right idea to be more worried about all this. Then another voice showed out of the woodwork interrupting my train of thought. This time with a less dramatic entry then Nuclear but just as grand in its own way I suppose. _"Hello Fellow Comrades, Hello S.B."_ It warmly announced both to the gathered gang and myself. They're multiplying. Why? _"Things seem so interesting that I have finally decided to stop lurking,"_ The new presence answered my question warmly with a smile. I'm going to start charging rent soon, the tenants are bringing their friends to stay over!  
The new voice didn't stop at that introduction, _"Hmm,"_ It said, contemplating. _"I agree with my fellow kin, please regroup and recover your strength as a team. The treasure can wait for a few more days, even a week possibly so you can prepare yourself by increasing your skills with a plan of attack... do not get greedy you at least can gain one gold coin from just selling one or two gems from the total six already in your party's possession._ " Right. Plan is set in stone.

"We've pushed our luck Ranta," I said slowly, "We're in bad shape and we need to get back home. We've got plenty of loot so today was a good day, all things considered. We can come back later, the chest isn't going anywhere."  
"What?! WHAT?! What about the treasure! And the money! And the adventure! Don't tell me you're turning into a coward like Haruhiro Sobato!"

"You leave Sobato alone!" Yume yelled at Ranta, he just turned an eye to her. "Butt out of this flat-chest! This is an argument between men!"  
"No!"  
"Shut it bitch! You only got lucky with the skeleton! You couldn't hit that tree there even if you tried!"  
She glared at the boy, then drew out her bow and noosed an arrow with a cocky smile.  
"W-wait… what are you doing?" Ranta asked, taking one step back as the arrow was pointed directly at him.  
"Yume?" I asked, cautious. Haru and Mogzo remained silent, watching.  
"If Yume's so bad at archery, then Ranta shouldn't be scared right? Not even if I let go of the string. Right?" Your logic isn't particularly off, viewed out of context here, but that's beyond the point!  
"I-i-idiot! Don't say stupid things like that, flat-chested girl! Are you serious?! Quit it already! What would you gain by killing me?!"  
"Yume would feel a lot better afterwards. You called Yume flat-chested; it hurts Yume's feelings." She said lightly, arrow unmoved even an inch from its target.  
"S-sorry! I'm sorry!" Ranta hopped forward and prostrated himself on the ground. "See, I'm apologizing! My bad! Please forgive me! Yume isn't flat! Your boobs are big! Large! Gigantic! HUMONGOUS!"

"Ranta." More than looking down to him, Haruhiro was looking down _on_ him. "You're not really sorry at all, are you?" Ranta glanced up with a shocked glint, "How would you know?! How can you tell?! How am I not sorry? Where's your proof!"  
Yume sighed, then lowered her bow and put the arrow back in the quiver. "…Not worth wasting an arrow." She muttered dryly. I stifled a chuckle at that.

On the other side, Ranta exhaled in relief and stood up, wiping the sweat off his brows. "Anyway, you would have missed even if you tried to shoot me. But I was apologizing just in case, you know… Hey! Yume, quit that!" Yume had drawn that knife-sword of hers out. "It was a joke! It'll be painful to get cut by that! You'll kill me! I'll seriously die!"  
"No different than killing a wild animal, I'm sure," Manato said with a wry smile, slowly coming back to. About time he woke up, I needed him to talk sense into this boy.  
"Good to have you back," I shot at him, while he stood up slowly with the help of Shihoru.  
"Good to be back." He answered dutifully back, then frowned. "The skeleton?"  
"Dead and gone. We took care of it." I grinned at him, and scowled at Ranta. He got the memo and closed his mouth before any details on how we killed the skeleton came out. "I'll tell you the full story once we get back home. We're in a tie on what to do next."  
"Bring me up to speed," he commanded and I complied easily. I took out the thief's map, explaining everything that transpired after the skeleton took a dip in the water.

 _"Now's a fine time to try and recruit Mary. I'd have honestly preferred you all have a bit more seasoning before picking her up since she'll be quite a bit ahead of you but at least now you have direct experience for why a backup healer is not a bad idea."_ Spectrum said while Manato gathered the party together.  
Right. Mary is a must-have, we've got too big of a group to manage with just one healer. I glanced worriedly at Manato, still rousing up. Convincing our group we had need of Mary should be a lot easier now, even Ranta should fall in line properly. Should, being the choice word here.

 _"Hmm,"_ The new voice thought, _"The urge to get Mary is strong, I am of the opinion of gaining strength for a couple more days to least remove some of the greenhorn smell before recruitment but I guess there is no harm in trying..."_ On that topic, we had a pretty good streak there about getting your names voices! Now it's broke. Thus - I officially dub you Fluffy until further notice. That'll teach any upcoming voice. If you cryptically don't tell me jack squat on how to call you lot, I'll invent embarrassing nicknames for you all! Watch me! Muahahahah-

The paper fan of doom descended on my head, booting me out of my power-trip and making me balk. Fine! I'll only invent semi-embarrassing nicknames! Fluffy stays though!

Arbit added onto that idea, _"On the part about Explaining to Manato about the extra priest you can say to him the number of people to the party is too great for one healer. It's better to have another healer if there's multiple injured or that one of the healers are injured. Andhe need to know that he need to be supported! If I am right healing and fighting all the time will quickly tire him out."_  
Spectrum agreed easily on that, turning an eye on me. _"Yes. S.B, you catching this? Arbit hit the highlights."_ I got my journal out and taking notes already boss lady. Wait. Boss lady? Paper fan in hand, cryptically clever dialog… adding two and two and I suddenly realized Spectrum's voice had been distinctly feminine this entire time. Ohhhhh, that's why I had that feeling he'd – she'd - been angry at me for a while now. I took a guilty glance, which was only shot down by a twitch of her fan. Right. Moving on. More important things to worry about, like getting out of here alive.

Spectrum seemed to agree. _"A 7 man party with one primary healer is very tough on the healer, especially if the tanks can't yet do their job to attract attention and then cheaply mitigate damage."_ Ouch. _  
"Healers in this sort of situation can't easily heal themselves or can't yet heal multiple people practically."_ She flicked her fan, glancing at our downed priest. _"And don't tell him this but frankly **MELEE PRIEST** wannabe Crusader Manato is also not helping things since he doesn't have the training or, more importantly, armor to actually act how he wants without consequence." _ I heard him sneeze behind me.

Fluffy returned to the forefront, launching into an explanation on how to cover our tracks by claiming the gang were all spirits of my dead family. It was quite elaborate, but Nuclear didn't think it was a good option. _"The spirit control idea might be slightly blatant. I'm fine with claiming we have spiritual ability as such, in order to excuse possession or prophecy shenanigans in the future but let's not be quite so specific."_ He said calmly, then folded his hands together. _"The more complicated a lie is the easier it is to get caught in it."_ Now the only thing he was missing was a table to hunch over and those glasses for reflection. Fluffy and Nuclear continued talking about the finer points on how to successfully lie to the entire team, along with specifics on how to actually make that possession ability they had work with living things.

Manato ordered us all up at that point. "I've decided," he said, "We'll head back to town for today." There was a breath of relief from everyone bar Ranta, who just coldly glared daggers at our priest. I walked in between the silent staring contest, getting Manato's attention.  
"Hey," I said lamely, to which he gave me his attention.  
"What's on your mind Sobato?"  
"Just wanted you to know, it's not your fault you collapsed all right?"  
He looked like I'd speared him in the heart but he recovered just as quickly.  
"It's fine. It's fine. I… Just haven't trained well enough with my cure yet."  
"No. We weren't able to tank hits properly. Mogzo and I both took damage when we shouldn't have to. We have armor for that, and we weren't able to use it well. It's our fault you even had to use all your cure spells in a few minutes."  
He grimaced. "I… Let's just say we all need to work on our fighting, and leave it at that."  
With a silent nod on my part, we declared that particular discussion over. The group had overheard us talking but no one made any sounds to interrupt. Was a tense atmosphere. I churned up ideas on how to fix that, but just one thing came up. I went with it.  
"Hey, you're a priest yes?"  
That got a raised eyebrow out of him. Of course he's a priest, moron. Do you need a nametag on his robes or something? "I kept the skull. I think we should bury it, you know, give it the final rites it deserved, but never got."  
Manato was moved somewhat. "I know just the place." He said quietly, "Leave it to me."  
I handed him the skull dutifully and he took it in stride. We packed the gear up and started our long trek home, hoping we wouldn't run into anything bad on our return trip.

Arbit got my attention then, _"S.B. can you hold out your spear for a sec? Oh a warning though this might get flashy or maybe zilch."_ I looked wearily to my side, but Spectrum and her fan wasn't anywhere near.  
"Ok, it better not explode on my face or anything." I muttered, taking my spear and pointing it forward. The presences floated down to surround the spear, infuse itself into the wooden cracks and metal tip. Nothing happened. After a moment, he left, looking disappointed. Must have not worked, whatever it was he had tried.


	10. Chapter 10

An hour passed, but nothing happened thankfully. We kept our group hiking by the river the entire time, maybe it had become a source of comfort? Nuclear appeared by my side then, I had noticed he was plotting something for at least the last good hour. Now it was time to unleash havoc. _"_ _Possession is one of my favorite things."_ He grinned.I swear, his hands must have been rubbing evilly together at that too. _"_ _Let's explore this capability shall we?"_ And he promptly flew off to terrorize the local critter population before Spectrum could swat him down. And terrorize it he did. Jazz tried earlier to take over a squirrel, all that managed to do was scare it off. Nuclear was on the try-and-try again side of the fence. In moments, most of the critter population around us had been chased out of the neighborhood. Every time Nuclear would wrap himself around a tiny helpless furry thing, it would freeze up for a moment, glance around sharply and then bolt away.

While we walked calmly and critters ran frantically, a bit of discussion was had among the voices on the emerald and gems to sell during the trip home.  
 _"_ _We could always have the emerald commissioned into an artifact at that shop S.B. went in his first day. You never know, it might help her accuracy,"_ Arbit mentioned.  
Spectrum took on that one, _"_ _Well, she can ask about it, but I'm pretty sure that magical items are far and away out of their budget right now, especially once you factor in the price of the emerald itself coming out of her share."_ She took a critical glance at my gear. Hey! I can feel some judgment here _!_ You leave my poor spear alone! She has very delicate feelings ok?! _"_ _These guys don't even have a full set of White quality gear."_ The specter said lightly, almost teasing. Well, forgive me if I don't have massive shoulderpads with lights glowing all over, or a full set of tier 135 raiding gear. This world isn't exactly big on the hand-out game. Besides, I got booted out of our mythic raid for deliberately plotting manslaughter on the hunter one too many times.  
And more words I don't understand. Joy. I feel like I've made a joke but I can't even tell what the punchline was.

* * *

The next interesting thing happened on our lunch break. We'd set up camp about a good hour from town. By then, the forest had become a lot sparser (Not just from Nuclear), supposedly the danger was at a minimum. So we took that time to have our picnic. Good natured chatting and the like were soothing to my ears. As I relaxed thinking about what to do in town, a tuff of white hair caught the edge of my sight. I flinched and twisted quickly to take a look. I saw probably the most curious thing in this forest thus far. And yes, I know what I mean – we've seen a goddamn walking skeleton out to mangle our faces, so the bar is set pretty high.

I saw not a chimos, not a white wolf or any sort of forest creature come to think of it – It was an Alpaca. I'm not even joking. A legit albino Alpaca, calmly looking in my direction – standing almost a single foot away. I was surprised I didn't even smell it, considering how close it was.  
"I didn't know the forest had Alpacs, that… just doesn't make sense."  
Yume glanced at me from the other side, "Hmm?" She questioned.  
"Just not every day I see that sort of thing. Yume, what's an Alpaca doing down here? I thought they lived in the mountains."  
She looked completely confused for a moment, "Yume's not sure what you mean Sobato. Alpaca?"  
"Yeah, that white creature there with the long neck. Looks straight up amused at something."  
Manato and Haru glanced at each other, then looked over at me. Even Shihoru took a glance over from her food.  
"Yume doesn't see any creature there Sobato…"  
Then the alpaca opened its fat mouth, and out came Beta's voice. _"_ _Spectrum seems to have a full plan thought out, so going with it shouldn't be a big issue."_ The alpaca intelligently noted. I just stared.

"What, you can't see the Alpaca?" Manato said with a grin and nudged Haru. The thief looked confused for a moment, then understanding dawned on him.  
How? I kept thinking. You suplexe'd Trog! How did you manage to do that if you've been an Alpaca this entire time! _Hooves_ don't do that! It makes no sen – OH right. Should repeat my mantra by now. Bullshit trans-dimensional beings are bullshit. I sighed.  
"Oh! It looks really cute too." Our thief said, keeping a straight face.  
"Noooooo! Yume doesn't see it! Point it out, point it out!" The hunter had bolted up on her feet, looking wildly left and right. Then Manato broke out laughing first, "We're pulling a fast one on you Yume, sorry," he explained, one arm guiltily scratching his neck. "You're easy to tease."  
Our resident not-quite-bow-expert puffed out her cheeks angrily, then turned on me. "That's mean! I really thought you saw an Alpaca."  
Managed to avoid gulping and hid it with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Ehhheheh, just wanted to tease you a bit. I mean, what are friends for if we don't give each other shit every now and then, right?"

The friend part seemed to pick up her spirit. The pout turned into a genuine grin. "Yume's definitely going to trick Sobato real good soon then! Expect it!" She proclaimed, sitting back down next to me and returning to her lunch. I just patted her head affectionately for a moment, the little ditz. "Let's see what you've got Yume."  
That was close. I shot a blood-curdling glare at the Alpaca to my side, who – not surprisingly – continued chewing imaginary grass with its mouth open. Clearly Beta's care cup was empty. No cookies for you, actually, the snack bar is closed for business! Shoo! Go eat your stupid make-believe grass elsewhere! Really. I was pretty darn sure Trog would be the one to figure out how to make a visual hallucination, how did you usurp the resident cheating bastard? Spectrum's fan whipped through the air and struck down on the Alpaca with the wrath god. It glared ruefully for a moment before vanishing. I threw an imaginary thumbs up at that.

Final thing that happened before leaving the woods - We passed our first deer! Which Ranta stopped the group for a moment, "Yume! Yume! Hit it with an arrow! We can easily sell deer meat for something right? Let's get Sobato or Mogzo to carry it back!"  
"Eh? That sounds like work." I thought with a sigh. Mogzo only looked at the deer, thinking hard. Was that… hunger in his eyes? He seemed to have thought of something and zoned out of the discussion.  
"You're our pack mule Sobato! Our workhorse! It's your job – no – your _duty_ to carry everything for us! You should be thankful you're allowed to carry the great dread knight Ranta's items! You're the warrior right?! Do your job properly!"  
"I'm allergic to work. Got a doctor's note. Sorry." I answered back.  
"What?! Don't just say you got a doctor's note in a world with no doctors!"  
"No, it says so right here," I said, pulling out my recruitment parchment and pointing at a line in English. "Sobato is allergic to work. Do not make him work for health reasons. Signed, Doctor."  
He glared at me, "That's not what it says! Besides, you can't sign a letter with 'Doctor' even!"  
"How can you tell? As far as I know, I'm the only one here who can read. Too bad you never learned how to read Ranta, now you'll never know what it says." I said with a shrug. I could see the group trying to keep their faces straight. Even the quiet mage seemed to smile softly.  
"…. You…. piss me off! You're going to carry that deer home or I'm going to kick your ass until you do!"  
"Ehhh, so scary. Manato, hold me, I might faint."  
"Don't drag me into this," The priest answered with a light smile. "Gotta fight your own battles."  
"This world is too cruel," I sighed. But arguing with Ranta was like fighting a river. "Fine, I'll carry your deer home. Happy?"  
"Absolutely! You should have just admitted defeat before even talking to me! I'm the world's best persuader! People across the sea tell stories about how convincing I am."

That said, the deer in question hadn't stood still while we calmly discussed murdering it for food. Nuclear had swooped over it. So of course, it ran like every other critter he'd tried that move on. And Nuclear followed it out of sight this time. That's a new one, I thought. Wonder when he'll be back.

* * *

 _The deer ran forward for a good five minutes. You chased after it into a clearing, where it seemed to stop. Not wanting to spook it further, you settle with observing it for a moment, deciding on the next move. The deer quickly resumes its usual routine of eating grass, while the surrounding forest remain still enough. A moment passes, and you vanish back to S.B.'s side, yanked by some force. He must have moved beyond your range._

* * *

The town walls showed up in the distance, and we clambered off the beast trails and onto genuine man-made roads. Glorious civilization, your returning heroes bring back gems and victory! Roll out the red carpet!  
Of course, no such thing for our group. We shuffled through unnoticed all the way to our inn where we split ways.

I had a laundry list of things to do and half a day to do them. Before leaving, Manato agreed to bring Yume and himself over to Sherry's tavern later tonight, where the recruitment paper told to go ask first. The ring was another story. It fell to either Manato or I to find an identifier for and Manato seemed better at haggling so he left with the gems instead while I got stuck with the ring. I told him about the trinkets shop from earlier and he'd make a loop by the graveyard to bury our ex-enemy on the way there. It worked out.

The trouble was that Ranta refused to let me out of his sights. He was latched onto me faster than a leech. I thought it was because he wanted that ring still and figured I'd find a way to con him out of it. Couldn't be more wrong on my part; he probably forgot about it completely. "You promised you'd teach me how to control the undead!" He whined to which I replied, "I don't remember promising anything other than we'll talk later."  
"And it's later now isn't it?"  
"Ahh, what if later was an hour ago and you missed your chance?"  
"Don't fuck with me! You swore you'd teach me! I completely remember you saying you'd take me on as an apprentice!"  
Just a minute ago he was convinced I'd teach him. Now he was convinced I made him into my full blown apprentice too. What's next? Time to see if I couldn't convince him of something else. **  
**  
"Listen Ranta, you signed up on the dread knights guild right? You know they don't allow anyone to leave the guild. You're stuck as a dread knight, and you can't ever learn to be a necromancer – unless it's a class specialization of dread knights. Hell, I don't know. You sure you want to risk that?"  
Ranta glared at me. "Lord Skullhein is the god of death! Death! Commanding the dead is clearly my destiny! No – my duty to Lord Skullhein! All glory to him! And you're the key to getting that! Now fess up!" Ahhhh, dame da. This is a losing battle. Fine, Fluffy had thrown out that spirit idea, but telling that to Ranta would probably backfire on me. Besides, Nuclear had given good arguments against it too. Therefore, the next best thing was to be cryptic as all fuck.

"First, you're going to need to learn to read. Second, visit the bookstore and read about the undead, specters, spirits, gist, ghouls, and so forth. It's all in the bestiary. Best thing I can do is point you in the general direction. Got that?" Yesssssss excellent. I'm becoming quite the accomplished liar. Besides, Ranta might learn something interesting doing that research. Reading is good for the soul Ranta! You should be proud of taking on the nobler path! The dread knight nodded. "Fine! I'll learn to read - and then become the best reader in the world! I'll have entire libraries dedicated to my name! People will write books about me!" Ambitious. I wish you the best of luck with that, though I'll be putting my silver on _not a chance in hell._  
"Good. Great. Now, got any ideas where we can get a ring identified?"  
"…" He shrugged, just remembering the item that brought us all here in the first place. "Lemme see it."

Didn't see anything wrong with that, so I passed him the lightly glowing band. He peered into it leisurely. "Got an inscription here, what's it say?" He tossed the ring back and indeed there was writing on the inside. Good job kid, you're halfway useful! I should have checked the ring earlier.

Let this guide your faithful hand. Glory to house Tyule.

Oh. Well folks, we've got ourselves a good old fashioned stolen ring. Surprise. Or that the thief was secretly a Tyule spy, doing the long game by stealing from their own house. Anyhow, both results meant having it identified by official means will probably bring down the wrath of the Tyule family on us, whoever they were. By my own math, probably not people we want to piss off. There's a lot of people that fall in that category come to think of it. We're small fry in the scheme of things aren't we? This place was a small town and gossip spread faster than fire here, so having it identified out in the open will surly bring bad luck knocking down our lawn gnomes and ruining our hedges. The only thing I can conclude, is that a thief was wearing it – so it's probably got something worthwhile for thieves. And considering the Tyule's had their name written on the ring, it might even be a signet or well recognized sign. Whatever the case, they weren't particularly worried that their agents might be compromised with that ring on them. Or maybe it was something completely different.

"Well. We've got an afternoon suddenly free," I said to no one in particular. Ranta did a double take, "What, you suddenly scared some stupid noble family comes hunting after us just cause we have their ring?" Ranta scoffed.  
"No," I said slowly, "I'm scared of walking around with a ring that's probably worth more than my life to some people, and said people wouldn't think twice on just killing me for it."  
Ranta looked dead in my eyes, his own thinning crossly. "You better not put your tail between your legs and just give the ring back like a dog! I'll never forgive you if you do that! It's our ring! I got _stabbed_ in the back for that ring! With a shank! It hurt like hell! Have some pride!"  
I shooed him away, "I'm not going to just decide that on my own. We'll talk with the team about it later tonight, ok?"

Ranta glowered a bit more, then shrugged suddenly spent. "Whatever. Do what you want, I don't even care anymore." That was easy. Too easy.

We got back to the merchants stalls and I stocked up on bandages again. While in the potions shop, Arbit showed up with some advice. _"_ _Oh yeah ask the potion shop of potions that help cure magic withdrawal, and if there's any side effects."_ Right – I think there was something here… mana potion?  
"Hey, what potion helps with magic withdrawal?" I asked the old hag as she counted up the bandages. She didn't look up as she continued her work, "Plenty of ways to deal with that problem young man. Potion of Deeper Thoughts prepares your mind ahead of time for the withdrawals. You'll cast more far efficiently, I've seen people cast continuously spell after spell for a good five minutes without signs of stopping if they've taken a particularly pure one. Lynx's paw elixir is a knock-off version that does the same thing shoddier but much cheaper – comes at a cost of a deeper and longer nightmare filled sleep after. Slight delusions too if you take it too often. Most popular one is a Mana potion. Older then dirt that one it is, but also much more dangerous than the other two." She shrugged. "Adventurers should rely on being prepared, fights are decided before even a sword is drawn. That's how it should be. But the young never prepare for the future, Ha!"

She shuffled forward and grabbed a few batches of different potions. "Mana potions are a band-aid solution to a more critical problem. Don't tap out your mages and spellcasters in a fight, period. Fix that particular problem with strategy, the strongest of all potions which also happens to be free, save the time you sit down with your team. You won't need dangerous potions like this one if you can prepare well enough ahead." The old lady tapped the glowing blue tiny jug in front of her.  
"What's it do anyhow? Kill you?" Ranta asked, checking out a swirling black potion.  
"Fixes your withdrawal and does so very _very_ well. Also burns your throat and your stomach too, causes a host of long term problems later. Drink more than one of these in a day, and you'll be bedridden for a week once the effects wear off. Drink three in one day, and you'll be burned and buried later that day by your friends. Drink one a day for as little as three days in a row, and you'll become addicted."  
Then she grinned with a nasty look. "They're quite cheap to make too, a perfect trap for the foolish. The more pure the mana potion, the nastier its effects are. So, easily done by even the sloppiest of alchemists. Some use the potions as torture even." She cackled. "My advice, buy one and hope you don't need to buy any other from me again."

I looked at the options, three potions. "Price?"  
"Two silver for the Deeper Thoughts, Seventy five capas for Lynx's paw, and only fifteen for the Mana Potion. The elixir will last you a full day when drunk, Deeper Thoughts lasts only two hours at best. Are you ready to choose young man?"

With that done and behind us, Ranta and I continued our way into town. The local smith was next, and the exchange was rather dry. I paid capas up front, he took my wooden shield and told me to return tomorrow before setting out. That was that. We got food at some sort of noodle shop where we met up with Mogzo and Haru. Apparently Shihoru had also tagged alongside Manato and Yume on their trip to sell the gems. I wasn't surprised, the mage girl followed Yume around like a lost puppy. The noodles were good, but it seemed to strike a particular cord with the other three. I can't tell why, maybe it was nostalgic for them?

Rest of the day was spent sightseeing, doing upkeep on my weapons, or relaxing. The gang had met up at the inn, and it looked like we had a perfect fallout. The three gems sold for sixty silver. Sixty motherfucking silver. Twenty _each_! We were rolling in money now and everyone was ecstatic. After we spent a good half failing with simple math, we reasoned it was approximately 8 silver and 57 capas per person. The emerald was missing from Yume's hands when she came back, but the grin on her face told me there was something more to it. Turned out – she'd gotten a deal from the store, offering to make her a necklace with it. Minor jems were sold for two silver and fifty capas and by supplying the gem they knocked off the fifty capas, to which she instantly spent two silver of her winnings on that necklace. It was being made as we speak too. I asked Yume what inscription she got… but she forgot.

Apparently it had been on Manato's suggestion, so I was sure it was something smart. He had decided to keep the minor gems as well, as they might be used for trinkets later. A solid discount is something to keep. Even our mage got something, a hairpin with a deep glassy purple jem. When I asked what sort of magic it had, she just turned beet red and wouldn't speak. Manato told me it was a dud and sold only as an accessory. Looked good on her, I thought.

Was about the time when I explained to Manato about how we beat the skeleton. I kept it as vague as I had with Ranta – read something interesting in the books, thought to try it out. Battle of the minds and I won. Our priest was oddly quiet on that, but he had that damned eyebrow shot way up. He didn't ask again anyhow, so mischief managed I suppose. Before we left, there was one problem – our inn situation. See the boy's room had been filled to capacity. There were only four bunks and five of us. The math checks out, trust me I ran it three times: One of us would have to sleep in the girl's room, or on the floor of our room – but that was dumb. We all needed a good night's rest in our jobs, so why sleep on the floor when there were two empty beds in the room next door?

Yume didn't seem to mind, while our mage just blushed red and looked down undecidedly. I was about to ask them directly which guy they were ok with, but Manato cut me off.  
I raised my own eyebrow, but Manato clearly had a plan. "We write our names, put it in a pouch and let them draw from it." How's that any better? I mean really? But sure, whatever solves the problem fairly. He was the team leader after all, I'll default to his decisions.  
I pulled a page from my journal, ripped it into five pieces which is where Manato took said empty pieces and passed it to the girls before we could write our names on it. They looked at one another wearily, but Manato continued on "Come to think of it, the boy's bath is open right now, we shouldn't miss it since it'll close soon."He stood up to get his things, "Pick someone out, and we'll shift the bunks up when we get back. Let's get a few things done at the same time."  
I shrugged, took out my gear and walked out. Bath time was sacred. I will never say no to a bath as long as I live. As did the rest of the guys apparently, leaving the two girls alone to deal with the whole thing. Inside the bath, Mogzo and I just jumped into our usual routine, which none of the other guys could understand. Ranta spent the time looking at the cracks in the wall scouting for something, Haru and Manato actually had a short discussion with one another. All in all, felt like a new man walking out. It's good to be clean.

When we returned, Manato had been drawn. We waved him goodbye as he packed his gear and walked over next door. Honestly, it was a pretty lucky draw come to think of it. He was definitely the best of us all for that situation. Mogzo, second best but the guy was too quite, so the girls probably didn't know much about him. Haru couldn't hurt a fly I think, but again, also super quiet and none of us knew that much about him either. Geeze, I can't even imagine what would have happened if Ranta had been picked. That would have been terrible for them.

As I was thinking about the two girls, Spectrum appeared, complete with her deadly fan. It looked like it had seen some work since it's inception. _"Spectrum's dossier time~"_ She tittered lightly. Oh! I hardly know a thing about our mage to be honest. She's always at Yume's side and has hardly said a word around me.

 _"Shihoru's last of your current party members because she's going to cause you the least problems. She's a nice, quiet, thoughtful girl who brings moemoe factor of her own. She doesn't need to be in the spotlight and will tend towards making spell choices that support the rest of the party and let others shine."_ Ah. I thought, that makes more sense given her personality. _"Unfortunately, she's also the most backline of backline mages and should be kept far from combat and right now her accuracy is frankly pretty garbage, as we've alluded to. So, she's not that helpful yet, but she's not going to be actively detrimental. When you have the time, ask her for more information on the Mage guild."_

I thought about it for a bit, but Manato was already scooping up Yume and I for the bar crawl we'd planned.

Inside town, there wasn't much critters out there for Nuclear to stalk/scare. Still, he hadn't stopped, still at his shenanigans. _"_ _Admittedly it does seem more difficult to possess a living creature. I'm still going to try though, one simple enough to ignore it or one slow enough to get caught. I wonder if many of us attempt the possession together will decrease the time needed. Something to think about."_ He said, still tireless. Unlike before, this time he went after insects due to the lack of furry prey in town. The same thing happened to the insect population - which made all the tests so _worth it_. This is **it**. The **peek**. I thought in sheer awe. The ultimate use for my voices has been unlocked! Go forth and scare off the mass of insects that annoy everyone on a constant basis! Nuclear did just that, relentlessly too. The rest of the day was blissfully fly free, mosquito free, and creepy-crawly free too. You know, it might work if I tried to pin down a rat while you guys moved in and… did whatever you do during that thing? Food for thought.

Sherry's tavern was exactly as I thought it would be. Tables everywhere, serving ladies waiting on tables and passing food, it somehow filled some expectation I had in me. It was just us three, Manato, Yume and I. It took a bit to convince Yume to come with, but I bribed her with food shamelessly. No one ever said no to free food. That's just, not possible. Inside the tavern, we found a familiar face – Hat guy.

Looks like he hadn't done anything much in this last week, he still had his civilian clothing from when we arrived. No – scratch that, he HAD done something this week. If we'd focused on combat and getting up to speed as recruits, he'd focused on being a social butterfly and getting to know everyone. From the table that surrounded him, it was pretty clear he had been a regular in the tavern for the past week. Then he caught sight of our little group of misfits. "Yo! Yo!" He waved frantically at us, grin stretched wider and wider. The groupmates around his table turned to our direction with a respectful nod. They all looked like veteran Crimson moon members, full armor, robes, weapons, and so forth. I felt a little intimidated just being looked by them.

Still, the social butterfly walked on over to our table, sat down in between Haruhiro and I, and gave both of us high fives. Friendly guy, I concluded. I instantly liked him. He waved over the closest free waitress, "Beers! Beers for everyone here, wait-" He turned to us quickly, "Are beers ok for everyone?"  
"Don't know, never tried a beer yet," I said sheepishly. Maybe I had, but I can't quite remember. Yume nodded alongside. Manato on his part made an amendment to the order, "Two beers actually, one for Kikkawa and one for myself please. I'll let you two try it out first before, how's that?"  
I shrugged, then turned back on our new interloper. Kikkawa, who practically stumbled over his words, "So sososososo! How's everything? How's everything going? How are you guys? S.B. right? You look like a warrior! Good good! And Manato, priest yes? Damn you guys are as productive as Renji's team! And Yume's a thief right? No? Hunter? Yep, that's the one!"  
He had more lung power then even Arbit, and Arbit doesn't need to take a breath of air to talk. I'm honestly impressed with this guy.  
"Haven't heard a peep about you guys since I got here! Renji's team is already hunting down kobalds in the siren mines, since they cleared the forest yesterday. I hear tells of the other rookie group just got started and was last spotted going into the forests too! That you guys right? Right?"

"Yes, we went into the forest earlier today. It was… interesting." Manato cryptically said. Yume was a lot less reserved.  
"We fought against a skeleton! It was super scary!" She blurted out, which brought a bit of silence around us. Looks like there were some eavesdroppers looking into what the new recruits had to discuss. The hunter didn't even notice, "It had one hand broken, and the other hand had a huge rusted sword! Sobato, Mogzo, and Ranta all got stabbed by it, it was really scary to see! But Yume managed to hit it with an arrow right on its face! Yume wasn't scared at all, even if it was super scary!"  
The entire tavern had gone quiet by then. I was nervously looking around. Turns out, the regulars were really curious about how the new arrivals managed. Small town gossip.  
"We ran to the river and made it just in time! The skeleton kept going invisible and throwing its sword at us, Yume even had to bandage Haru up, but Yume did a good job~yan! Then Sobato and Mogzo grabbed the skeleton after stunning it and they dragged it to the river!"  
I quickly nudged Yume to quiet down for a bit. "Oi, don't go spilling all our secrets!"

Kikkawa on his part thought that was amazing. "Wow! You guys took on an undead on your first adventure and survived?! That's like, super rare! Renji's team didn't do anything amazing like that, they just killed a lot of goblins and then came back when they couldn't carry more. Wow, you guys deserve a drink for that though!"  
There was a quiet nod among the tavern as sound began to engulf the room. Looked like everyone had something juicy to talk about to their neighbors. Kikkawa continued his chatter, and when the waitress arrived, she came armed with drinks – a lot more than just two beers. "Here are your orders, also a few patrons wanted to pay a drink to you all."  
She set the drinks aside. One cup of honey mead, two cups of beer, two cups of Spliced mead and two cups of wine. We weren't walking out of this tavern in a straight line it seemed.

Manato grabbed his beer and passed it over to me. "Still want to give it a try?"  
"I'll give everything a try," I answered back without missing a beat. So I took a sip of that drink. And boy let me tell you – It was total shit. I realized right then and there, beer was not my cup of joe. I passed it over to Yume wordlessly. "Was it good?" She asked, curious. "Naw, I didn't like it much." That didn't stop her from trying – and reaching the same conclusion.  
The honey mead was good, but Yume also thought the same thing, so I let her have it since there was only one. The Spliced mead was interesting, but not as sweet at the honey mead. Wine did not taste good either, though Yume seemed to like it more.

We had a pretty idle chatter while we consumed beverages. The problem is that it was expected of us to drink all the gifts, turning them down would be pretty ungrateful. And getting drunk this early probably wouldn't buy us any points with the future priest we were looking to recruit. Talking about that… "Hey Kikkawa, do you know a priest by the name of Mary?" I asked him. To which, he had an answer. "Yep! She's sitting right over there, look for yourself. Not there, _There_!"  
I glanced around and saw a young looking woman in the rear of the tavern. She had either dark black hair or dark blue hair at least. Couldn't tell in this lighting. Her face was turned away, so the only thing I noticed was the priests robe and the back of her head.  
"What can you tell us about her?" Manato asked, to which our informant had an odd glance.  
"Hmmm… they call her Scary Mary, and she's an interesting fellow. Got to talk to her for a few minutes, but she took her mug and left asking to be alone unless I had business." He shrugged, "Some people are just like that ya know?"

I nodded slowly, already clicking some things together. Kikkawa continued. "She's almost always without a party, all the local teams avoid her now. Only foreign teams that pass by or rookie teams take her on. When it's foreign teams, she usually she travels with them for a few days, then comes back alone. She's got free housing at an inn for women on the other side of the town, because she's a full Crimson Moon member. Don't know how she'd be able to stay off the streets if she had to pay, like they say she's mean because she's constantly going hungry. I dunno about that, tried to offer her food but she totally refused it. Super cold!"

Wow. There were people in this world that said no to free food? My world view – shattered! Be still my innocent heart.  
"Why do you ask by the way? You got Manato right?"  
Manato flinched, "I… might not be enough for our team." He said flatly with a little forced smile. Hey brat, that pisses me off. "We're a team of seven, it's just going to be too much for one priest, no matter how good they are." I said, glancing straight into his eyes with my last word. He got the message. Smart guy.  
"Yume feel really sad for Mary." Our hunter mumbled, looking with sympathy at Mary across the room.  
"Yep, plenty of other people said that too, but changed their minds once they got to know her." Kikkawa said somberly. "I thinks she's a good person… deep down. But I don't know anything about her really other than the rumors. If you want to recruit her though, it'll probably be easy. Never heard of her turning down a party invitation yet. Though fair warning – rumor is she doesn't think of her teammates as real people, so her reliability might be bad. I dunno!" He ended with a shrug. Then he suddenly thought of one more thing, "Also! If you're planning on asking her to a date, don't. She'll shoot you down without flinching. Truuuuuust me."  
… You're rather shameless aren't you? Still, you're no Ranta so I'll forgive that.

"Can't possibly hurt to give her a trial, what do you guys think? Let me handle this one." I got the general Ok, and we made our way to her table. Been hearing about this famous priest for a long time now, felt like I was meeting a celebrity walking down closer and closer to her. On the priest's part, she turned around to glance before we arrived, sharp instincts telling her she was being scoped out. That's when it gets fuzzy. As soon as I saw her I couldn't help but stare. This girl was **stunningly** beautiful. I'd describe it more, except I can't really think right now.

"Yes?" She asked, clearly annoyed. My feet hard carried me all the way to speaking distance. Her eyes had tightened into stilettos, there was ice behind them. It shook me out of my trance at least. Manato glanced at me quickly, he'd been fixated as well for a moment but had recovered faster than I did and was about to nudge my side. Yume just looked impressed by her. "Wow! You're beautiful~yan!" She said with a little slurred voice. Mary on her part also shot out the cold look treatment to the newcomer. "Thank you for your thoughts." She replied mechanically. She didn't say more, keeping an eye leveled on us all. Waiting. Her hands stayed right around the mug of water she was nursing.

I took a more critical glance at her. Trimmed nails, clothing was neat and clean, and her weapon seemed well taken care of. On top of the recruitment paper… early marks of a disciplined person at least. Or someone that hadn't given up yet. I can respect that.  
Right. To business. I took out the almost unrecognizable recruitment parchment. She did recognize it, but made no comment on its current state. "You're Mary right? The priest looking for a group?"  
"I am." She answered tonelessly, but I could tell her demeanor went from annoyed to interest. Or so I'd like to think.  
"Are you available for hire?"  
She nodded slightly.  
"Our team's new, we've got a priest with us already," I said pointing at Manato, "But we'd like to have an extra backup just in case. We're still learning our way, and if you wish to decline the invitation on that, we'd understand."  
"It's fine. As long as I get my cut, I don't care." She answered quickly. Her situation must have been pretty bad to sign up with a new group like ours without even taking a pause.  
"Then we'd be happy to have you join us. We'll also take any advice you might have, you're a fully-fledged member of the Crimson Moon, you probably know your way around the battlefield better than we do."  
That seemed to hit a nerve with her, I noticed her cheek twitch slightly at that. Normally, it'd be pretty tough to tell on anyone else, but Mary's face was flawlessly still at all times, like the girl was a doll. Small things were noticeable thus.  
"I see." She simply said.  
Manato nodded at her politely. "We'll be in your care Mary. I look forward to learning from you."  
For some reason, there was a very odd feeling – seeing both Manato and Mary right next to each other, talking to each other. Like this shouldn't have happened. Like it _couldn't_ have happened. Odd.

I wanted to like her. And I wasn't sure if it was because she was the prettiest girl I've ever seen, or if it was because the voices had told me there was some potential to her. The former, I should take out of my mind right now. The latter I should bank on. I knew good looks tend to make anyone biased – but it was life or death out there. By definition, I should be happy to take an old hag with us if she was a better healer. Out here, there's no room for any other measuring metrics then _assets_ and _weaknesses_. We hadn't hired her for her personality after all, I reminded myself. We hired for safety. But damn was she drop dead beautiful though.

"We meet at the central inn, by the residential district at around seven in the morning, can you make it then?" Manato continued, finishing the formalities.  
"I'll be there." She answered curtly.  
"We split earnings seven way right now, we'll switch to splitting it eight way now that you've joined. Is that understood?"  
Mary shook her head again, giving the all-clear. It almost felt like we were being dismissed as well.  
"See you tomorrow." Manato ended the discussion for us, turning around and walking off. We followed to his side back to our table. The moment he sat down, he took a long drink.  
"Hope you're right about this, Sobato." He said. "I trust you."  
"Yea," I agreed. "I hope so too." I took over my mead cup and drank a good mouthful. Already I felt a slight buzz – You know, I might actually be a lightweight considering it's only half a cup of mead in my stomach. Yume on the other hand had a red flush going on and seemed a little unsteady. She was also _clearly_ the happy drunk. She also hadn't stopped drinking either. We're going to have a tough time getting rid of all these gift drinks.

Then my luck had to be tested of course. See Nuclear hadn't stopped his assault on the bugs this entire time. He'd been flying left and right constantly, so it came to my attention real fast when he _stopped_. One insect in particular did not run when Nuclear surrounded it. It stayed firmly in the corner of the ceiling as the presence descended into the critter's very center. It looked like it was going to work too – that possession mumbo jumbo. And I had no qualms about it working either. Just the _target_ was a problem. Because out of everything they could possess – it had to be a fucking spider.

And a big one at that. Sitting on its web it was huge – a good four inches of pure alien malevolence. Giant eyes looking eerily into the tavern, and wicked looking legs that connected to an impressive thorax – which in turn ended on clearly visible fangs. The mouse bones stuck on the rafter nearby did not bode very well in my head.

Could I squish it? Yes, easily with my boots too if I could knock it down. But do I want to get near it? Not even with a ten foot pole. The thing looked like one of _those_ spiders. The type that can sprint demonically fast on the ground. Spectrum had her fan out, ready to smite a certain someone getting too clever for their own good, while Nuclear sheepishly _digested_ the spider.


	11. Chapter 11

_"_ _Spectrum's dossier corner~"_ Our resident enforcer appeared to my right, fan flushed and at the ready. Clipboard and feather pen on the left. Good! I was looking forward to this particular tidbit of information.  
You all pulled a bait and switch on me with Mary! I was practically sure this was more of a rescue operation than anything else, given Mary's situation. Getting kicked out of every group, despite being a competent healer, struggling to survive in this desolate world – except none of you told me there was a reason besides _the-world-just-sucks_ on **why** she'd been a mercenary priest for hire! Arguably, I can't say it changes much. I'm a rational man in this insane world, (So I keep telling myself day after day) and I _get_ we simply need an additional priest to save our butts. Her looks, personality, and so forth really mount up to a pebble compared to the mountain: Getting healed is infinitely preferable to getting dead.

That said: What the hell happened to that girl? She's like an ice-cold unfeeling psychopath! I'm damn curious.

 _"_ _Ah, Mary...she's a complicated one."_ Spectrum answered me carefully. _"_ _I'm hesitant to tell you everything so as not to entirely spoil her privacy and so you don't accidentally give away the game by talking about something you shouldn't know yet...hm."_  
Well, thank you for your vote in being ambiguous. I think I'll just go bug her myself about that backstory and get a straight answer. I felt a glare at me just then, like I'd just been an insensitive prick. That was followed up by a warning fan folding out. Shutting up now.

 _"_ _There's a certain traumatic event she went through in the past and she's very slow to open up because of it. Just slowly work on it and treat her like a member of the party. As for her performance in battle, she's absolutely competent, tempered further by experience. She used to overextend herself like Manato trying to do everything, but she learned the hard way how to ration her spells and not make the party dependent on her."_

Adding two and two here: She was like Manato before, then she had a traumatic event that taught her never to over-use her spells again. So, wild guess is that she got stranded from her team at some point, and went into mana withdrawl alone at the worst time – and somehow survived the return trip. Am I close? Wait – there's a hole in that explanation. Where's her original team at? She couldn't have shown up in this world alone rig- oh. Sole survivor? Failed to heal the team, went into withdrawls and somehow managed to hide – then woke up alone with her party dead or vanished? That… would explain her demeanor. Or maybe her party turned on her at some point?  
Spectrum on her part didn't give me anything more to work with, continuing on her dossier. _"_ _Unfortunately, newbies and scrubs don't properly recognize that and she's too reticent to explain it, so we're probably going to have to have you speak up and explain things and defend her at some point."_ This might get hairy. Going to need to defend her, without really being able to explain why. I like challenges.

Fluffy showed up to approve, _"_ _I am in Full agreement with Spectrum."_ He proclaimed, _"_ _While we can tell you her past we should not due to you spilling the beans and possibly causing damage even with good intentions, She is a great Priest who will work hard to keep your friends safe"_ I…. well, I suppose that's all I ask for. " _She will Appear Cold and uncaring in battle and refuse to heal at times,"_ My eyebrows shot up, _"_ _\- Baby cuts and tiny bruises"_ He clarified _quickly_ before getting back to his original point, _"_ _But that is only because she is experienced in saving her magical power to use on the more important injuries, she is a good person deep down that Kuudere attitude."_  
Spectrum sighed _, "I really just want to give her a hug, honestly, but that's not likely to work out well."_ I took a glance again at Mary, sipping on her jug of water slowly. More and more mysterious that girl. Like a character straight out of a fantasy book, the mysterious but beautiful broken girl who nee - _"_ _...and don't you be thinking about giving her a hug, either, yet!"_ Spectrum didn't let me complete that on! I'm already considering what we'd name our cute little daughter and **now** you tell me hands off? How's Liliam sound like by the way? We'd have a little cottage over the hills and a pet dog named Las - **AKK**! I was just pulling your chain I swear!

 _That fan had no mercy;_ my thoughts while rubbing the top of my head. I'm pretty sure the pain was imaginary, but that's totally not the point here. Come to think of it…  
"Something on your mind Sobato?" Manato asked me, looking very cautious around me.  
"Ideas, why?" I answered, taking another sip of that mead. He shrugged, "You look like you're plotting something." He gave a worried glance to Yume. Our hunter was just giggling to herself next to me, she seemed completely zoned out of the conversation, cheeks and nose flushed red. "I won't let you do anything to Yume while she's drunk, just warning you."

Hey! You're the second person to accuse me of being a wolf in the last two minutes! Cut me some slack! I then realized…. "I was just daydreaming about buying a fan." I answered, both to clear my good name and because I think it's a wonderful idea. Perhaps I happen to have the nastiest evil grin I've ever made, stretched wide on my face just now. "You know, to hit a certain someone with messy hair anytime he starts bothering people…. In the name of discipline of course…"  
Trog approved, _"_ _Fuck Ranta. Little shit should learn how to man up and actually act like a decent human being."_  
See? Even the voices were behind that plan.

I turned on Kikkawa now. "Hey, know anything about house Tyule?"  
The man looked drunk as well, but he was more then happy to explain whatever he knew.  
"The Tyules? Just heard a few things from them really. There's this Lord living in Altana. Near the center of town, just look for the huge mansion! Though the guards will kick you out probably."  
"Know who to ask about info?"  
"Hey, you bet I do! I do! I do! Merchants around town gossip a lot more about that sort of stuff. Use crimson moon members just like to talk about clans and famous parties. Britney would probably know something too! Just ask around, you'll find out!"

We struggled to return to the inn that night. Yume and I were in pretty bad shape, and Manato was the one half-dragging us, half directing us the entire way home. It took an hour before we doubled back to the tavern and asked for help. Funny enough, it had been Kikkawa and some of his friends that helped us out on that part.

* * *

The next day, I woke up to mutterings. In my head I should clarify. Also aches too. Equally in my head.  
 _"_ _Returning the ring might be fine. It was stolen at least few months ago and your group only arrived recently. You might even get finder's reward if it's so important. Just be truthful that you find it from a corpse or something."_ There was a pause, _"_ _Of course researching about the name first might be better to have grasp of the situation."_

IT'S TOO EARLY TO BE SERIOUS. GO BACK TO SLEEP DAMNIT. No one's even up yet!  
I rolled over in bed and clamped my bag/pillow over my head. Sadly, that particular tactic wasn't very effective.

 _"_ _S.B. should work to keep everyone in the group close to each other, especially Shihoru since she has almost no interactions with the group."_ Another voice answered. Wait a tick, is this a new one? Fine. Fuck you guys. I'm awake, I'm awake. I tossed over my bed and threw myself down. Who needs sleep anyhow, right?  
 _"_ _She would need encouragement and you should tell her of all the great things that magic can do so she would work harder to become a better asset to the group. Ranta seems to be making himself the inside enemy of the group but you should know that he does have good intentions. Or at least he seems to have."  
_  
Yeah - but that doesn't make him any less of a pain in my butt! I had a great idea yesterday about dealing with him, but I can't remember it through this headache. Definitely a new voice though. Oh I _knew_ the drill. You can't fan me this time Spectrum! I warned them fair and square about naming! I gave my best bloodshot _I-just-woke-up-hungover_ look at the lady with the fan, and hoped it would be enough. In the meantime, I got busy on my pen and journal, taking up the notes the voice advised earlier and quickly catching back up to the present.

What name should I tag it? I thought in between my scribbles. _"_ _Just make sure that ill opinions are kept to a minimum to prevent bad relationships from forming that could affect synergy in battle."_  
Sounded clever, solid advice, likely the more down to earth type like Spectrum. Say Spectrum, how'd you like a little sister? I grinned wickedly.  
 _"_ _Work to develop a relationship with Mary too, since as Specter said, she has a bad history that makes her the way she is."_ The new voice continued, oblivious at the coming danger.  
Said lady appeared then, fingering her weapon of mass destruction with a not-so-subtle message. But I think it was aimed at the new voice for misnaming her as Specter instead of Spectrum. They continued forward while I jotted down the advice in neat points. Maybe not so neat points. Ok, _passable_ points.  
 _"_ _The others won't understand this, so make sure to clear up the misunderstandings within the group that Mary is a burden that does not help. Haruhiro could also feel left out without any strong friendships with anyone else... although that might be because Manato is in another room. Or maybe they already have a friendship. Anyways, keep him in the group too."_

Honestly speaking, this was pretty legit. With Mary's introduction into the team, I got the feeling I'd become at odds with everyone for defending the black sheep I technically orchestrated into our group in the first place. Plus she was drop dead gorgeous, so there's always that accusation that I brought her in the group because of lust. Now I've been armed on good starting points to prevent that from happening. I finished the last of the notes, closing the book.

The new voice had vanished, which meant no name was forthcoming. I'll be merciful considering it was good advice. Somewhat. Let's see… Ah! Chibi-chan. And you'll have the voice of a tiny stuff bear while I'm at it, until further notice. Perrrrrrfect.

Seeing his chance to fix things, Fluffy returned to the scene of the crime. _"_ _Oh dear, where are my manners."_ He said with a sly smile. _"_ _My Apologies S.B, I am officially known as ChaoOverLord among my kin. You may call myself ChaoOverLord-sama, The mighty OverLord, The Bringer of_ _ **DOOM**_ _and_ _ **DISORDER"**_ And out came the maniacal laughter.

I think you and Nuclear are best friends aren't ya? Actually on second thought, you've got an ego the size of Ranta! Fluffy seemed to shrug at my accusation, _"_ _...or just Chaos, perhaps even Fluffy since it is such an amusing name you came up with if those title are too long."_ Fine. Chaos it is, Mr. Chuunibyou. Fluffy's too good for you! Trog agreed and disagreed on that, _"_ _Fluffy is not an embarrassing nickname in any manner. I wear it with pride. Cheese Wiz would be a good nickname."_ YOU. I think the only embarrassing nickname I could think that would make Trog flinch would be going all the way around for a normal name instead.

Next new voice that pops up, I'll give them a really embarrassing **gigantic** title, just to shake things up.

After that, the gang slowly appeared around me while I brushed my teeth and prepared my gear for the day. The _other_ gang were all still fast asleep. The morning sun hasn't even risen over the mountain line yet. Apparently Nuclear was still stuck in that spider's body overnight. I could feel him a quarter of a mile away, in Sherry's tavern. He'd paid rent there apparently, comfortable inside his creepy new minion. Better rate then my head I suppose. Didn't stop him from talking in my head however. Discussion for the moment was about what to do with their newly acquired spider. Nuclear was already making a list of things he'd learned and possible uses for them. Even Trog joined the conversation, explaining about possible range of operation for possessing something. Get a job you delinquents! Spiders are no laughing matter!

That spider-loving voice wanted to bring it with us today, but it turned out they'd learned yesterday there was a limit to how far they could fly around. I was just impressed they could even see things not in my range. Could be useful for scouting things I can't see. There's the whole shlick about an unreliable narrator and right now my tendency to narrate my life seems like the only thing that gets through to the rest of the gang.  
Then Chaos offered to have the spider carried on my shoulder or somewhere. Which got a very polite vote of _not a fucking chance in hell_ from me. You people are terrible! Though at least Chaos admits the spider might get squished if it got anywhere near me. 'Accidentally' squished.

I heard the trailing thoughts of Nuclear, _"_ _Still this opens new possibilities, like having the spider show up on Ranta's pillow in the morning."_ Which got a very polite _PLEASE DO THIS_ from me. You people are brilliant! _"_ _Or perhaps more productively have it capture other small animals for us to possess."_ At the very least, despite being NEETs living rent free in my head, the voices were organizing and plotting things intelligently, hopefully to my benefit.

 _"_ _Oh right the alpaca thing_ ," Nuclear turned his attention, _"_ _Since we are eldritch abominations-"_ He coughed loudly at that, as if he let something slip, _"…_ _trans-dimentional information based entities we can choose to appear as we will. Why specifically an Alpaca I don't know."_ I heard that first part! You can't hide it with a cough! What's my life look like, a B-skit comedy routine!? Beta showed up to defend himself then, the head literally passing through the wall out of nowhere. _"_ _Why an alpaca?!"_ He shouted indignantly, voice muffled slightly with his chewing which detracted from the impact, slightly. Beta didn't seem to care one lick and threw himself into a passionate defense of Alpacas and all their glory. By the end of that, the Alpaca had stared down Nuclear's split presence into the ground. _"…_ _They don't bite, they can ride in cars, and they fuggin potty train themselves! Did you potty train yourself? Huh?"_  
Nuclear seemed completely unworried, _"_ _Alpacas never really captured my interest compared to camels or llamas. Although I suppose it's funny when they spit at people."_ He answered coolly, despite having been stared into the ground by one long white head.  
"He wasn't an Alpaca, he switched avatars;" Trog informed me then. "Also, I'm not a cheaty bastard; cheaty bastard implies I know the rules and am trying to exploit holes in them, I'm trying to figure out what the rules are. I can still have my cookies right?"

Fine. Cookie privileges restored.

 _"…_ _Anyways."_ The alpaca turned its head back up and looked me dead in the eye with a point to make. _"_ _I'm a bit conflicted on the mana potions. The downsides are... pretty serious."_ It said with a serious thought. If it could use it's hooves to scratch its chin, I'm almost certain he would have. _"_ _I'd probably advocate only buying one, for a severe emergency. Also, I do think it may be a good idea to agree to at least spar with Ranta, as it may decrease his area for complaining, no? Also, make sure to win to establish the dang pecking order with him."_

Sparing with Ranta eh? All right. Seems like a good deal to me. How hard can a dread knight be to beat down? Trog snickered at that. _"_ _Again, fuck Ranta."_ He said. The kid must have pissed off the voices more so then usual yesterday.  
 _"_ _On another topic is it possible to convince you all, to make this spider follow us? It might be useful as a spy drone and scout not to mention a pet."_ Nuclear asked, to which both Beta and I shot him a glance. Trog shot that down vocally for us _, "Sorry Nuke, but I'd rather not draw the attention of the spider's master."_ Spectrum showed her hand in support of Trog's, _"_ _Spider's not going to be able to keep up. If anything, I was tempted to instead suggest it to fuck off into the slums and gather information there."_ She said curtly.  
 _"_ _We could just have it attach itself onto the back of an SB, or hell SB could carry it on his shoulder. Claim it's a familiar or pet or something. Really I just want it to be used."_ Nuclear countered. If it gets within stomping distance, you'll have to pick it up in spider heaven. Nuclear seemed to bore into me. Fine! If you guys get it together this is the best step forward, I'll comply. I'll complain to the end of the earth about it, but I'll do my part too.

Done brushing my teeth and cleaning stubble off my face, I grabbed my pack of gear and began to do the usual maintenance check on my gear. I'd need to pick up my repaired shield on the way out. I saw light in the inn, and shuffling feet. Someone else was awake it seemed but I couldn't tell who just yet.  
I tightened the straps over my shoulder and chest, hearing the satisfying sound of leather compressing. Once the under-armor was set up correctly, I began to affix the metal plating one at a time, starting from the under-plates first. It was calming and took some time to get done right. Don't want any of this to fall apart halfway into an excursion. I was a warrior and warriors took pride in their gear.

"We could of course cheat." Nuclear said, the argument had followed me out here. "That is use of our magical possession powers to devour the souls of the goblins and use them to attack other goblins leading to a goblin army which constantly replenishes its losses with new minions thus creating a great force which can sweep the plains for loot."

wat.  
 _  
"Hell since we have a large amount of leeway in the distance we have to maintain from S.B. we can capture one of them, leave the party behind and using that goblin capture other goblins until we have our army."_ Are you saying I'm actually the next overlord?! He is isn't he? And I'll get minions. Minions!  
That point was pretty contested, and quickly put down, although almost unanimously considered awesome if it could work. But still. This is as close to world domination that I could get. A+ for effort Nuclear. I also have serious reservations it would be that easy.

Chaos sat next to me, while the rest of the voices were in the background, further discussions unheard for the most part. _"_ _Hey...You know about The Archives from Trog and our access to the vast info we can see,"_ I took a pause, wondering I if I should fetch my pen and journal again. "...you are a good person S.B. and I admire the bonds of friendship you have growing with your party so far,"

That's… Hey, I'll take it. I thought with a shrug. Good to know someone thinks nice thoughts about me. Chaos continued, telling me I was free to ask them for advice or cooking recipes whenever I wanted it. _"…_ _it is funny, I had this big plan to suggest to boost relations with Mary, make Ranta really loyal to you from the information we know and even manipulate that Kate girl into a loyal follower..."_ I raised an eyebrow at that, manipulate Kate? You sure you're also a good guy there Chaos? Besides, Kate was a dangerous little girl. Chaos seemed to pick up on that, _"_ _I can see the pride from surviving for that whole year and why she lash out at Manato due to resentment and as a way to release stress from the cynical environment. I am sorry if I am ranting but just felt like I had to let that out."_ I nodded silently, fitting on the last of my armbands, and pulling it snug. My heart went out to her, but she also scared me a bit. Not just who she was – but what she represents. If we don't make this work, we'll all end up like Kate. And not all of us would survive in the slums like she did.

Chaos seemed to pat my back, he apologized for the depressing thoughts and threw a vote of confidence that I'd do the right thing by just being me. _"_ _Oh let me give you some free info on Team Renji, Renji is a warrior, Ron is a Paladin I think, Sassa is a Thief, Adachi the glasses guy is a mage and Chibi is a priest."_ He finished with team Renji's roster – at least, he explained that this was in their archives. The original timeline I suppose. Could be different here for some reason. What do you guys have on me in that archive? Was I just some red-shirt that died early on or something? You all never answered come to think of it.

 _"_ _I'm suggesting we give Kate silver for training since she needs a week for that anyway, and the sooner she starts on her thief training the better we are off on her services in town, or as support in the field. We had shown that we are better off than everyone else. Now we throw so much fluff and warm feelings her way she'll go dumb."_ Another new voice appeared right besides Chaos. I haven't even come up with the next name yet! That's not fair!  
That said, the voice had brought out the old argument when it came to Kate. It's true, I did have the money to spot her – twice over even. And with the amount of silver I've got stashed up, I could survive for a good half-year without working a day, probably. So I'd be trading my long term survivability for a possible new teammate. It's a tough choice, but easier now that we've hit the jackpot with the gems. _"_ _We can afford it."_ The new voice followed my inner math.

 _"_ _We're not doing that_." Nuclear quickly refuted. _"_ _I don't think you understand how much money 8 silvers are. Seriously a gem we sold was 20 silvers."_  
We have a thief already, Haru, and come to think of it we also had one extra bed in the inn open that we were renting out unused. That's quite some incentive for loyalty there, sponsored training as a thief, plus room and board with a new party – which meant a stable income if she did her part. If I were in her shoes, I'd do _everything_ in my power to get and keep that.

Which made me frown as well. Everything. Haru might be viewed as a comrade but might also be seen as a rival too. There's no telling what Kate could do on our team really. Would she see him as an ally or a threat to her own role? A wild card, that girl was. She might look like a tiny girl, but she was probably a lot more ruthless then even Mary. And _much_ more willing to pretend and deceive in order to fit in. Kind of like Mary's complete opposite come to think of it. The only people who've seen her true self thus far are Manato and I.

 _"_ _S.B. should definitely not do that."_ Spectrum agreed with Nuclear, cutting my train of thought off. _"_ _Full Crimson Moon membership is 20 silvers. More training to keep staying alive isn't cheap either. If S.B. wants to *loan* her the money after those and basic equipment are squared away and take her on as a hireling, that's fine afterwards, but not before."_ She grumbled, muttering something about bleeding hearts. Talking about that, I had threatened a gigantic title and I will certainly deliver.

Thus I name thee: Lord Bleeding Heart, Savior of the downtrodden but ruthless little girls.

Wait just a moment there Spectrum! What about Mary? Just this morning you practically wanted to hug the girl in sympathy? If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd be Lady Bleeding Hea- shutting up now. _"_ _Like this we can safely distribute the cash we pilfered from Brittany."_ The savior of the downtrodden but ruthless little girls refuted, continuing his argument. _"_ _Also give Kate the badge if she lost hers."_ He added, giving me a quick glance. _"_ _Cash in bank, and the cash everyone else has after we just split it among team members is thus the same, nobody the wiser. And I for one consider Kate to be a good investment. I think she'd do a way better job as a thief than our current attendant."_

Well. One thief who just showed up a week ago, fresh off the boat and still trying to get his bearings together, compared to a new thief who'd spent a little less than a year surviving in the harshest environment possible for a girl her age… If I were a betting man, I'd be making a lot of money today.  
 _"_ _I'll have to jump onto the no loaning money train."_ The alpaca said, arriving on the courtyard and grazing on the tiny tuffs of imaginary grass. _"_ _We're just not making enough money to give around half our current total savings. Finding a bunch of jewels is a rare occurrence. Shit will slow down."_ Well I certainly hope not. Making 8 silver a day… there's nothing about that sentence I don't love.  
Got the last of my glove on tight. The right one was easy, it was just a simple leather glove. The left one had metal plating on the knuckles and overhand. Had to adjust it just right or else it might pinch my skin – which isn't a good feeling believe me.  
 _"_ _Also, it's starting to get crowded here, huh. Use your best judgement when listening to us, SB. More people means more dissenting opinions..."_ The alpaca said worriedly. I'll just do as I always have, I thought with a shrug. Follow majority vote, do as many suggestions as possible unless there's a conflict – like right now.

Then I heard my **_own_** voice in my head. _"_ _Here. It's a loan. Definitely a loan, you have to absolutely pay it back, with interest ... W-WHAT?! It's not like I'm doing it because I L-like you!"_ …. HEY! Keep your grubby mitts off my voice Lord Bleeding Heart! Although that's hilarious. _"_ _I think it's very beneficial to team morale if we can advance at the same pace with them. Everyone being rid of the stress of not being on the same level, and having free lodgings..."_ The Lord Savior finished in his own voice.

Spectrum was having none of it. _"_ _Or S.B. can just pull more than his weight with the resources that extra cash gives him. Like, seriously, Ranta's going to blow his money on things no one knows about,"_  
Lord Bleeding Heart seemed to know that. _"_ _Food and women. I think he voiced his needs quite vehemently some time ago."_  
Trog snorted, _"_ _And my opinion of him falls even further. Thanks for the reminder.  
I feel like giving him Zoid's Ultimate Insult."_

Spectrum clamped two hands on her ears, _"_ _THINGS NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT!"_ She screamed.  
There was a pause while everyone stayed quiet, then Spectrum continued. _"…_ _even within the party over a long period no one will be able to track everyone's spending that well."_

 _"_ _I am sorry if you feel that my suggestion indicates my heart is in the correct place."_ Bleeding Heart said. His next few words made me re-think his name. _"_ _I am greedy. And see an asset that if left behind could not be used later on unless more funds are utilized. She lived off the streets for a long while, and managed that without losing her moral spine, to a degree. Likewise she kept her knife in the best condition despite its wear."_ Said Lord Bleeding Heart, Savior of the downtrodden but ruthless little girls except not really and just a greedy manipulative bastard. Name is a work in progress. _"_ _At worst she could replace Ranta, honestly, dudes shouting is annoying, and will cause trouble to the whole group."  
_  
Ultimately seemed like it was Lord Bleeding Heart and Chaos pushing to help Kate, and mostly everyone else either neutral or against it. Chaos had thrown a pretty long discussion on it which ultimately ended up with a messy fight on both sides throwing possible earning figures and math and other scary subjects. Even a full step plan for getting Kate's undying loyalty came up.

The sun had finally peeked over the horizon by then. I'd put the time down at about five or six in the morning. And today, I had a mission to look into House Tyule, something I wanted to get started a bit before Mary showed up at the inn. No doubts in my mind that girl would walk up at seven on the dot. That priest struck me a lot like a professional soldier. An admirable trait the warrior in me couldn't help but respect.

As for my own discipline… Second day out of training, and I'm already skipping on the morning conditioning. I shrugged at that, if there's no time, there's no time. No sense panicking about it. I palmed my spear up last and was underway when I ran into Mogzo. The giant was also preparing his gear too, I'd just beat him to it by half an hour.  
"Oh… Sobato." He said quietly. "Are you going to train too?"  
"Ahh, sorry my friend. I've got a job to take care of this morning. Tomorrow, I'll wake you up and we'll do the rutines together. Sound good?"  
He nodded at that with a smile. "I'd like that. Are you going to have breakfast? I can cook something for you."  
"Thanks Mogzo, but at seven we're heading out to the forest. Can't juggle all that. I've got some bread I'm planning on eating on the walk." He looked sad at my answer, so I hastily added a command to it. "But you should cook something for everyone if you've got time. It'll help out the team spirit I think."  
Mogzo agreed easily, and I walked away from the inn with a mission.

 _"_ _Not hunting down the deer was a mistake."_ Lord Bleeding Heart nagged to my side, not even half a step out of the inn. _"_ _Other than food, you can get its skin - that can be sold at a tanner's workshop. Working leather takes time, and hunting in a monster ridden forest is likely hard, so a lot of goods must be imported into town."_  
There were entire merchant's guilds in this town and I've noticed more than one caravan at a time coming and going. New voice was on point about the imports.  
"Right, next time I see a deer, I'll have nuclear chase it _towards_ us instead." I still answered snarkly.  
 _"_ _Don't dismiss small gains when they cost you little, and you are not in danger."_ The savior of the ruthless, but downtrodden little girls answered back just as quickly. Wait I messed up the order on that.  
We might make some more coin if we trained Yume in tracking down beasts and the like. While bagging goblins, we could sometimes bring back pelts and meat too with luck. There's always a demand, as Lord Bleeding Heart understood.

My first stop to figure out about the Tyule's was of course the market square on a certain drunk person's advice. Next stop would be Richard, and then I dropped by Britney's humble office to get the rest of it. All on Arbit's advice, and it turned out 100% correct. He had quite a lot more to tell me, in his own unique way. Arbit always had crazy ideas, and half of them usually _worked_ too. He also had me looking for a teddy bear.

House Tyule is as suspected: A noble house, with quite a large roster behind it. The main members of the family (The **real** Tyule's) were several hundred miles away in the capital, but they've got hundreds of relatives that also 'claim' to be part of house Tyule, and usually keep that title so long as they also pitch in. They're in a cold war with House Vedoy, who currently have local power here in Altana. One of the cousins to the main branch of Vedoy is his excellency, the earl of Altana for example. Not to say the Tyule's don't have some grip over Altana either, they've got a mansion near the center of town, complete with a dozen servants and a small routine of soldiers to protect it. And all that's owned by just an uncle to the Tyule's.  
Unlike most houses, Tyule is an ancient house, steeped in tradition and honor. They do not play the covert games, and instead tend to be in the forefront of military matters. As such, it's unheard of for the Tyule's to hire an assassin. They were more akin to simply march a platoon of soldiers and kill you in front of the world. That house seriously gave no fucks when it came to politics. Of all the houses, the Tyule's have the deepest relationship with the Crimson Moon, since we're often recruited by that house to bolster their offensives. The uncle in question, was Lord Byron Tyule. An old war veteran war general who has since retired, and lives in quiet peace in his mansion. Rumor has it, he never wanted to retire and was exiled here by inner house turmoil. No one really knows the full story. That's all I managed to dig up during the free hour I had. A quick trip to the armory, and I had re-equipped my old shield, fixed up too. While getting my info, I had a visitor.

 _"_ _Would you look at that, how very_ _ **interesting**_ _."_ A voice intoned clearly in my head. It was raining new voices today, hallelujah. I immediately had a vibe this guy would get well with chaos and Nuclear. Those two were up to no good.  
"I suppose you may call me either Lex or Luthor."  
"Lex wins by laws of laziness." I answered without a second thought. Damn you for figuring out my complicated naming algorithm.  
 _"_ _Now, it must be eminently apparent how lacking your party is._ _You lack proper stealth, and can't properly capitalize on an ambush thanks to your lack of any reliable ranged support, thus having to fight on your enemies' terms. Mogzo needs initiative, a level head is essential in combat, but his position requires a certain amount of aggression. It doesn't help he seemingly lost composure and overextended during the fight with the Skeleton. Your Mage has the same problem, but contrary to him, she simply isn't even close to combat ready. Those are the biggest flaws I see, not the only ones I can find."_  
"It's a fixer-upper. Work in process Lex. OK - _Long term_ work in progress…" I said, making my way through the street.  
 _"_ _Had you not encountered the undead, do you think your party could have come close to matching Renji's feat, killing enough goblins in a day they can't carry the spoils? You need to train, Deus Ex Machina are by nature rare and unpredictable, and it's poor form to rely on it."_

Yeah, well Renji's just a dirty try-hard power-leveler. I prefer the scenic route, with flowers.

Ahh who am I kidding. We suck don't we? Fine. What do you suggest we do about it Lex?  
 _"_ _How often have you completed Richard's workout routine since you finished basic training?"_ He asked.  
Sum total: 0. I'm not as big a slacker then a college freshman at this point, they manage to get a negative score.  
 _"_ _A day you slack might be the day you didn't become fast enough, strong enough,_ _ **good enough**_ _to survive, to win. All of your teammates can benefit of, at the very least, from a lesser version."  
_  
I dodged a cart and made my way through a shortcut. Britney had told us never to take shortcuts. But I had a shield and spear on my back, plus training to use it. And I knew what Kate told us. True to her word, anytime I walked in the direction of someone, they simply turned and fast walked away. I looked like trouble. I could feel Arbit floating around, looking through the trash for something to possess. No luck anywhere.

Lex had one last tidbit of info for me. Which actually took me by surprise. "And lastly, you might have to assume leadership of this party."  
I was pretty fine being a second in command, was there a problem with Manato? The only thing I've gotten so far is he tries to hard to do everything. Lex had that answer on lock. "While charismatic, Manato isn't wholy fit for the position, a great lieutenant to be sure, but his bleeding heart and tendency to overextend are nowehere close to ideal. There might come a time to make hard decisions, and I can't see him performing."

I knew those choices. The ones where there's no winning move and you'll feel like shit regardless of the outcome. Could Manato handle that sort of decision? Could I? _"_ _He, in fact, seems to agree. You have proven to be reliable, powerful and calm, already taken the lead on the field of battle. Our council makes you, SB, uniquely fit for decision making. Keep that in mind."_

I… damn. He made some persuasive arguments here. Also, my ego surely enjoys the free compliments – But I digress. I jogged my way in an odd state of mind.

That quick jog returned me on track to meeting up at seven. It was good enough that I even crossed paths with Mary making her own way up. Seemed like a good time to have a one on one with the new teammate. One down, Next up: Haru, or our resident mage. Gotta make Chibi-chan proud here, and be a social butterfly. After a quick mental glance over a detailed list of everything the voices had briefed me on, I was ready. Be polite, treat her as a teammate, understand she's cold hearted because of a tramatic event – and will need time to warm up to our group and me.  
"Good morning," I waved, ending my jog and taking a pace to her side.  
Mary didn't respond in kind. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she peered unblinkingly, her gaze quickly dropped over as she inspected my gear and posture instead.

She looked back almost dismissively. Seemed I have been judged and found wanting. Ho. Off to a good start I see. But I expected this!  
"Something wrong with my armor? I'll take any advice you've got."  
She seemed about to say something, then shook her head slightly.  
"No."  
"Hmmmm, that doesn't sound honest to me. Go ahead, tell me." I pressed.  
She sighed. "You should invest in light cotton shirts to wear under it."  
"Because linen itches?"  
"And soaks sweat."  
"Fair point, I'll make a stop for that when I've got a chance."  
We went silent for a moment, while I took my chance to glance over her and let my eyes wonder in the same way. She glared at me with open hostility at that, but changed her mind once she noticed my eyes were paying more attention to her staff and belt rather than at _her_. (Not that it wasn't tempting mind you.) The belt she wore even had a few potions on it with easy access along with a closed pouch. I recognized the bright blue Mana potion, but the others were a mystery.  
"Your staff is different than Manato's, can you explain to me the upgrade choice?"  
"I chose a bladed tip rather than a blunt one, since I'm not physically strong."  
"What's in your pouch?"  
"Bandages, a few herbs, and my rations."  
"What sort of spells have you learned besides cure and smash?"  
"A long range cure, called _heal_ and a mana efficient spell, _renew_."  
"What's renew do?"  
"It heals wounds over a period of time, usually a minute."  
"That's very handy. Manato would probably enjoy discussing the finer topics of being a priest."  
"I see." She answered, bringing the conversation to a stop. I couldn't think of anything else either to say. Well. That's enough for today I suppose. We walked the rest of the way to the inn in reasonable silence.

Mogzo and the rest had mostly cleaned up by the time we arrived. Ranta was still putting on his leather armor, while Mogzo helped Haru tighten some loose straps. Manato was finishing up breakfast with a few others, one plate remained – pancake freshly steaming too. I saw Mary's eyes narrow with realization when she spotted the dish.

"That's –" But she went quiet a moment later, tearing away her gaze and looking impassively at the group. Manato shot me a smile that said he was up to something.  
"Ah, Sobato! I see you're back! Everything gone well?" He asked.  
"Yep, got info on House Tyule. I'll figure something out with the ring situation soon. Anyhow, everyone, I'd like you all to meet Mary. She's the priest I told you all about, and as of today a new member to our group."  
Ranta snorted, "Sobato – it's obvious you left early just to walk Mary here! You can't fool these eyes!"  
"Watch your mouth Ranta, you'll annoy him." Haru tossed over at Ranta with a tired expression.  
"Haaaaaaruhiroooo… You've seriously gotta be blinder than a bat. ROMANCE is in the air! They're doing the THINGY. One hundred percent, the THINGY. Sobato just happens to know a super hot priest and walks her back home in the morning?! No such thing could be coincidence! Never!"

Trog rolled his eyes. _"_ _Third times the charm: Fuck Ranta.I mean seriously, unless his character grows anytime soon I'm just gonna chalk him up as a lost cause."_  
Lex spoke as if it was self-evident on how to deal with the brat, _"_ _The answer for Ranta might actually be to assert dominance in a way that it doesn't involve his social issues. Beat him, but acknowledge his effort. Don't patronize, don't mock, but also don't praise."_ Smart voice. I might just have to do that. Been hearing it left and right today.  
"That guy there is Ranta." I said to Mary and secretly agreeing with Trog. The new priest didn't show any reaction to Ranta's bold proclamation. At least we were on the same page here. Despite our mage going completely red and most of the guys flinching and face-palming. Only Yume didn't seem to get what was going on for a moment, but she caught up real fast and turned beet red. She glanced at me, turned away, glanced again, and couldn't make up her mind on whether to look at me or look away.

"Usually ignoring him works fine." I spoke over the murmur, "We're in the process of figuring out how to leash him, but thus far no success."  
Mary nodded silently, she seemed completely undisturbed in the least.  
"HEY! You can't just talk about me like I'm some laboratory experiment Sobato! What the hell!"  
"I'm pretty sure you're a goblin disguised as a human," I answered with a smile. "But further research is needed. Gotta have proof."  
"Well you won't find any! Not in a million years! I'm as human as human can be!"  
I shrugged, "Why aren't you ready already? We said seven."  
Manato talked then, "My fault. I held them up earlier by accident."

Uh huh. Manato making a mistake as a leader. That's surprising.  
"Anyhow Mary, we'll be a few minutes late. Sobato, Mogzo told me you skipped breakfast to get information on the Tyules. Since we got a few extra minutes, why not eat now?" He finished.

You. You magnificent bastard. Heart of gold. Seriously. "Sure," Then I glanced over at Mary and had an idea. "Wanna join in Mary? It's food from home. A recipe from our _real_ home."  
"I respectfully decline. I've eaten already." She held quickly, but her eyes never left the plate. She's a tough nut to crack. Damn. I thought that would get her for sure.  
I scarfed down my fill quickly, and was ready to head out by the time Ranta had filled out his own armor. In the meantime, the air quickly became strained between Mary and the rest. So I decided to set the record straight.

"Don't worry about her guys, she's a professional. Practically ex-military. Takes her job seriously." That got a glance from her. A sort of – _how do you know?_ Look. I shot her a wink, to which she rolled her eyes.  
"It's easy to tell. Impeccable timing, short and to the point, attention to details like arriving already stocked with potions, bandages, herbs, hair tidied up, even her weapon tells the same story: clean and taken care of meticulously. Mogzo and I know a thing or two about that. Add all these details up and the picture's pretty clear. She's here to do her job and nothing more." Yet. Mary on her part was staring directly at me, her completely unreadable expression present and presented. This morning's leering over you suddenly revealed my real intentions! I'd like to think I said the right thing.  
The group seemed to relax at that, like I had clarified the mysterious Mary. Even Ranta seemed to glance at her with new eyes. I think my use of 'military' was a word synonymous in his head with _cool_. Hook line and sinker kid. Everyone else felt a lot better that I had vouched she was _reliable_.

Team was ready and the pancakes were eaten.  
I stood up, reached into my bag and pulled out the goodies I got yesterday in the potions shop with Ranta.  
"I got us two mana potions." I explained, giving one to Manato, and the other to our mage.  
I then sat them down and explained in no uncertain terms exactly what they did. Shiharou flinched and seemed to hold onto the bottle like it was insipid poison. "Relax," I told her with a chuckle, "It's not going to bite you unless you drink it." That didn't calm her down in the slightest actually.  
Manato took over that part, "It's okay," He said with that protagonist award winning smile. "I believe you won't need it."

"That's not the end of it. I actually got something else." I took out the deep blue potion. Mary's eyes shot up. Of course she'd know what it is. "This is a potion of Deeper Thoughts. It'll allow someone to cast maybe three times the number of spells they could have previously – and at no side effects unlike the mana potion. Problem is, it will last only two hours, and it was expensive."  
So then, the question of who gets the potion. "Mary will have this one just in case." I passed the tiny vase to her. She of course rejected it rapidly. "Your own priest should have this. It's only proper." She said.  
"No, I don't think Manato should." I gave him a look and saw he agreed with me. "You have more spells the he does, you also know what a real danger is and what's not. If you're a member of this team, you'll take this potion because that's where it'll get the best use for all of us."

Damn I was on fire today. Mary's cold blue eyes _bored_ into my own, but I didn't break eye contact. There was something understood between us. This potion was _expensive_. I was trusting her not to simply disappear on us, running away with it. It was a huge commitment from myself. We both knew it's unlikely she'd need to use it in the forest. Which made this offering more symbolic. Once she had her hands on that potion, it was _hers_. We couldn't just demand it back if things didn't work out. I wasn't just putting her on trial with our team, I was putting all my money that this horse would win.

"Why?" She asked. To anyone else, the question probably made no sense given what I'd last said. But between us I knew what she meant.  
"Because I trust my gut. I've got first impression of you before I even met you." I said, "Your recruitment paper was well written and helped me learn the language on my first two days here. I spent a lot of time studying it, so I'd like to say I understood the writer before I met them."  
That got her attention ever so slightly. I pushed the vial once more in her direction. Mary's hand closed over the vial, and plucked it. Her eyes never left mine and I was sure I had gotten through to her on this. With a nod, I turned my attention back to a different topic.  
"Say, I've been researching this world's language. You and I are probably the only group members to be able to write and read it. Can you read English?"  
She said nothing to follow up. I took out that parchment, and passed it to her.  
She scanned it slightly, "Yes. I understand your writing. Is this English?"  
"It is."  
"That feels right." She said clearly. So, two of us agree the word for this language is English.

She can read English! My hunch was right! Mary is a different name then anyone on the team thus far, so my own name is probably an English name!  
Lord Bleeding Heart showed up then, _"_ _hmmm S.B. as Sun Bro_?" While I approve of jolly cooperation, I think not. But thumbs up on that as a nickname.

Wait. Shit! She can read English! My journal is now in danger – because I've scrawled more compromising things inside there then anywhere where. I'll have to add a lock on it or something just in case.

"We're setting out to the forests again today," Manato said to our assembled team.  
"This time, we've got an additional priest as you all know."  
Resounding hellos were passed again among the crew. She said nothing, keeping that neutral expression at all times. Ranta was about to open his fat mouth again, but Manato talked over him. "Our goal will be to get closer to the goblin ruins and scout the area. Yesterday we got lucky with our winnings. Today, we'll earn our living fair and square. Let's head out!"

He reached his hand to the center, and everyone else put their own hand on top of his. Mary and I were a bit surprised, but we followed through as well.  
"Fight-O!" The group shouted together, throwing the hands up.

Walking down the road was peaceful. At least for me.  
The group started idle chatter a moment later, no one bothered Mary and the girl in question seemed almost grateful for it. Silence wasn't akward, not after my speech earlier. Everyone seemed to understand Mary's role here.  
There is something calming about walking with a group of friends, knowing you're a part of it, but not having to talk. Just let the chatter wash over you. I got the feeling it had been a long while since Mary got to experience that again.

Then one voice showed up in my head, and I knew it wasn't just idle chatter. _"_ _Hello, nice to meet you SB."_  
Nice to meet you too, I thought. Today was pretty wild, somehow I'd gotten popular.  
 _"_ _I go by the alias "The Forgotten One." but It's kinda a mouthful, so feel free to shorten my name."_ You're giving me free reign? Mistake! I dub thee, the new Fluffy.  
Just kidding. Forgotten sounds fine, fits with everyone else's here.  
 _"_ _I hope I can be of help. I'm kinda new to giving help & advice directly, so please excuse me if I say or sound awkward or odd, and feel free to pull out your journal."_

So I did just that. Journal out, I began to scribble on it while walking – which is a bit harder than expected, but easy enough once I locked behind Mary. The priest actually kept me on track and following the group from the mass of carriages and pedestrians in town. Not much and not overtly, but I noticed quickly enough that she always seemed closer when there was some chaos around, easily inside my peripherals. Much easier on the road outside the walls.

Forgotten told me many things, for one - he'd been the one that made me buy the potion of Deeper Thoughts that I'd given Mary earlier, and the healing potion I got. I realize it was an impulse buy, but to know the voices could make choices like that for me without me even noticing was a tiny bit chilling. I didn't feel exactly scared however, I knew they were looking out for me.

He also told me about plants and identifying plants, same as Arbit. Or at least training someone to do so for us. Had a lot of uses for that. And finally, he brought up that cottage on the hill I'd been daydreaming about with my trusty dog lassie. Specifically, I should look in buying a house at some point. To settle down, retire in peace really. Honestly – it sounded good to me. Fighting was a terrifying thing, and I could tell I'd bite the bullet sooner or later. Not for the first time, I wondered what my long-term goals were.

In less than an hour, we were at the forest edge. We walked into the forest calmly, expecting the same as yesterday – a boring three hour hike before reaching anywhere dangerous. Mogzo led the way while I closed ranks on the rear. The odd thing was that Nuclear's connection had not let go of the spider still, even two hours away from the walls of Altana. We were mostly right about the boring trip. It's only on the first camp break that I happen to realize the danger. It was a fairly innocent thing, I simply looked up to get rid of a neck creak.

And spotted a very still and almost unnoticeable enemy. It was like watching an octopus hiding among coral. The thing blended so well with the leaves I didn't even realize the thing's scale until I glanced more then the odd hairy leaf.  
It hung on the branches of the trees, large enough to bend the trunks slightly. Eight armored legs, with visible hair on each. A green brown pattern on the carapace that fit perfectly with the canopy. And the most disturbing part was just how big it was. Bigger then Mogzo big. I was quite literally frozen in pure, unmitigated primal fear. There was so much adrenaline flooding my system, I felt my _entire_ back chill over. A massive spider, larger then I was, fangs thicker then my fist. Directly above me.

But the worst part of all was simply this: It was _looking_ at me, with those black beady alien eyes – and there was something intelligent deep inside.


	12. Chapter 12

I watched it for a few tense seconds. It stared back at me. The eyes were difficult to spot at this distance, but closer details started to show themselves to me. The voices stilled my terror for a moment, a command was given.  
 _"_ _No sudden moves, SB. Yes, that thing is intelligent, someone screwed up and we're trying to fix it."_ Spectrum said to my side, a worried tone that didn't quite fit the omnipotent being.  
The alpaca to my side seemed undisturbed, except when a valkyrie showed up next to him, complete with armor and wings. Given how both shot each other a look, I was sure they were also part of my head.  
 _"_ _S.B, stay calm we are with you, someone appeared to mess up and have anger someone quite troublesome."_ She said, with the distinct voice of Chaos. Of all times to find out she's a woman.  
Nuclear scowled to the side. _"_ _I'm not leaving this spider."_ He said bluntly to the Alpaca and angel. _"_ _I see that gleam in your eye."_

 _"_ _We will do our best to resolve this misunderstanding_..." the angel announced, _"_ _If this one does not appear to see reason, know that we will doall in our power to protect you and crush them beneath our feet."_ Mighty words, I wondered if the visual hallucinations they took could actually do something in the real world. The angel certainly blocked my line of sight, now - was that _actual_ light that blocked – or just in my head? Nuclear seemed to share that sentiment, _"_ _You aren't fooling anyone with your 'oh so holy' angel act by the way, you traitor."_ The voice turned his gaze to the rest of the gang nearby, _"_ _Also anyone not currently trapped in an arthropod might want to surround that spider. You know to limit her movement and sudden attacks."_

I inclined my head at the beast slightly, but there was no motion from the spider. It remained as still as the dead. For a moment, I thought it could be just a carcass, wrapped tightly around the tree trunk. Moss covered its carapace, and if there wasn't moss, a sort of spongy dirt like lichen. Most of its legs were covered in the same, looking like a patch of tree branches at odd angles. The camouflage was almost perfect.

 _"_ _I don't really think this spider cares all that much about a drone." Nuclear shrugged. "But I did want to experiment in de-possesion so I guess its fine, even though I'll get headbutted..."_ He sighed then, as if giving up. _"_ _I must point out that by de-possesing the spider like so many of you seem to want to do we can't use any commands on it. Also stop attacking me dammit, its not my fault the spider turned out to be a spy for a monster spider."_  
The Alpaca spat to the side, then delivered a skull crashing headbutt into Nuclear's side.

"Hey." I said quietly. "We're being followed."  
Ranta scoffed, "Didn't think you were the paranoid type Sobato. What, afraid of House Tyule's boogieman?" He took a glance up on the canopy trying to follow my gaze, wildly looking around. Clearly he didn't spot anything.  
"What's after us? Another group?" Manato asked to my side, alert now.

 _"_ _What ever you do SB, Keep eye contact and move very slowly and carefully if you do. Be prepared to dodge or block in-case at the last second."_ Forgotten whispered to my side. _"_ _It might not attack, we're not sure. All I know you're not ready to face anything like that in a fight."_ No kidding. We haven't even fought a goblin yet and we're already pitted against what looked like an apex predator of the forest? Our luck was horrible.

"No. Worse." I answered the priest.  
 _"_ _Trog Here,"_ The friendly voice appeared to my side. _"_ _Stop forgetting Rule One: Don't respond to us aloud or publicly."_ I flinched. That's something I've been screwing up here and there. _"_ _If we do end up fighting the spider don't try to tank any hits, it won't end well for you. The collective is being quiet so we don't distract you."_  
Right. Spiders have venom, so getting bit won't end well. A monster that size would have the tools to take on other similarly sized prey. And humans are just as fleshy.

Yume and Haru were still ahead of us, scouting for monsters. The rest of our group were huddled around, camping on top of a large flat rock. It felt like our little island in the middle of the forest. "Stay calm." I said, with much steadier tone then I certainly felt like. "We've got a bug problem. Hold your weapons until we're sure they're ene-"  
And as if I'd jinxed the entire thing – the canopy above us _moved_ the moment I had begun to combat-ready my team. I spotted only one spider by chance. The truth was, there were _dozens_. They'd blended so well, I had simply assumed they were the tree branches themselves.

Mary screamed - a massive clump of silk, spittle, dirt and rocks flew at all of us then. I heard a dull thud as Mary and Manto hit the ground like a brick had floored them. Ranta took one hit on the side, stumbled backwards reeling and fell off the rock edge out of sight. I couldn't even tell where it came from, the spiders were everywhere above us. It seemed only Mogzo and I had survived the pelting. The former out of sheer mass, and the latter because no attack had come for me. Three spiders descended, repelling downwards with swift efficiency. But Mogzo already had his broadsword drawn and primed. He jumped on the first target before it landed.

"THANKS!" He roared, swiping the metal down on a spider twice his size. It hadn't even set a foot on our rock, as such was flung like a pendulum away, until it hit a treetrunk with a resounding thunk. The thing's legs dug into the bark shakily while another leg cut the silk behind it with a dismissive swipe. It didn't look very happy at the situation.

Mogzo hadn't stopped either. Another spider had landed a few feet away and leapt at the warrior – four legs raised straight up to engulf the warrior, like a dead hand snatching a tiny doll. Mogzo never gave it the chance, his sword already cutting horizontally just as the spider reached. It too was flung to the side and off the rock, despite its desperate scramble to remain on top. Dirt and broken vines flared upwards as its claws failed to stop its momentum. It slipped and fell downwards promptly.

The third one hadn't expected both its companions to have been knocked off. That didn't deter it from its mission: me.

I had my shield and spear pointed straight forward, but the thing could care less. It ran me off the rock, colliding on my shield and carrying me with its sheer weight. I felt my feet lift off, while my spear tip was abruptly deflected by a snug flat pebble on its carapace. I had done everything wrong. Improper lunge. Stance off guard. Shield not angled, and worst of all – I hadn't hunched my frame at all. It was evident I'd be thrown off my feet.

We fell. Then we hit the dirt ground. After tumbling a few rolls, I scrambled back up on my knees, searching for my discarded spear. The spider was much faster and deadlier. I felt a familiar flare of pain on my calf and realized in horror the spider had stabbed straight through my leather boots. And then it yanked me. My chin hit the ground hard and I felt my chest armor scrape against the dirt as I was pulled backwards quickly. In seconds my hands shot out to join in, grabbing at any vines and rocks I could find to hold onto. That didn't help a bit.

I felt the voices around me scream, Spectrum appeared to my side fully materialized. She lifted what I could only describe as a massive spiked metal ball and slammed it down on the spider. And it went directly through, immaterial. The spider continued its pull, uncompromising despite the fury of all the voices around.  
"SOBATO!" I heard Ranta roar to my side. The boy had appeared then, running at the spider with his sword drawn wildly. A massive wad of sticky half-liquid silk was stuck on the dread knight's armor, near his armpit. I didn't have much time to say anything really. He was going to reach me in a few minutes and he might have, had the spider not gone _up_.

My world was turned upside down the next second and gravity became an afterthought. The spider was being pulled skyward. And its claw on my calf pulled alongside it. In moments the only thing I held in my hands were the last globs of dirt I had desperately grabbed for dear life. Upwards I went, suddenly having a much better view of the battle underneath. Manato and Mary had managed to stand up again after the clobbering, but the wet clumps were stuck to their feet. They could only look on in horror as I was dragged to my doom clinging to the treetops. Shiharou hadn't gotten back up after her own hit, she remained on the rock surface, unmoving. Likely knocked out, since I saw no blood. As for me, I was suspended painfully, my accent unstopped for even a moment. "AHHHHHGGGG- **GGGAAAA**!" I roared, twisting myself and trying to swipe at the claw pinning me in the air. The second I got looking upwards told me the story would only got worse: They were prepared.

Four spiders were drawing the silk webbing connected to my abductor's abdomen and moving in perfect synchronized tandem. They were the ones responsible for our rapid ascension. The other spiders nearby had webbed netting folded out, each stretched wide by four claws. The very next moment, those wet strap works were wrapped tightly around me. Struggling was next to hopeless. The silk material felt like superglue, quickly binding my legs and arms to my body and giving only half an inch of flexibility. Only my head was left unmolested. I felt a rip of pain as the claw was detached from my calf.  
Just as efficiently, I was lodged on the back of my abductor by a dozen claws, tied down, and shuffled off.

It seemed like the call to retreat had been sounded then, for all the spiders made their way up the tree trunks and away from my party. It was like watching leaves climb upwards, simply eerie how well the camouflage worked at a distance. I heard rustling foliage around me, but it was utterly disproportionate to the amount of spiders leaping from tree to tree – and carrying me along for the ride. I caught my team bellowing out my name frantically, I heard the sounds of running footsteps as a few tried to give chase. And I felt those sounds recede into the background as the spiders simply vanished through the canopy like fog in a dream. If they had wanted to kill everyone, I knew they could have. There were enough to swarm us twice over. At the very least I took a little comfort in that as the spider carried me through the trees, one bounce at a time.

The trip lasted an hour. Perhaps two. I was terrified at first, and the dull terror stayed with me the entire way. But it had been fought down enough for me to try something. Leap after leap, the spider would jump from tree to tree almost like a squirrel. Agility in this insect was nothing short of amazing. And frightening.

 _"_ _Hi, I'm Ridiculously Average Guy, call me RAG. I'm the guy with interesting ideas."_  
Rag huh? I giggled irrationally, slightly unhinged. "You joined a bit too late my new friend." I said aloud with another giggle. It's way too late to worry about Trog's first rule right? "'bout to die you see. Better flee the ship before it sinks. Or maybe I'll see you in another timeline if that's actually true. You should give me some advice for when I wake up again," I laughed some more at that, interrupted by another leap from the spider hauling me around.

RAG seemed happy enough to do just that, _"_ _Have your hunter wear that ring you have. It says 'may this guide your hand' so it may be enchanted to help aiming or something."_  
I thought of Yume then. Earlier when Ranta called Mary and I out as a couple, she'd look straight up adorable flushed red. I wanted to tease her more. Hell, I wanted to tease them all some more. Never got to talk with Haru one on one. Never got to beat up Ranta. Never even said more then a few words to Shihoru yet. Not for the first time I was just glad the spiders hadn't seemed to bother killing any of them. My eyes were puffing up. "Tell you what Rag, remind me on the next restart to do that. Actually, I might just remember you anyhow. Yea. Next restart will fix everything right? Right?" There was some desperation in my voice. Even I could hear it. I clung to that idea like a drowning man. Tell me there's a way out of this. Please. Somehow I knew there wasn't. Death was breathing down my neck.

 _"_ _If you need to fight the spider beast, having someone who might be able to take its eyes out at range would be good. Speaking of, aim to disable the legs first. The spider's biggest strength is its mobility, get rid of that and it's dead."_ Rag said. I thought back at our fight. It wasn't much of a fight. I hadn't noticed we were utterly surrounded by them this entire time.

The spider leaped again, digging its claws onto the bark soundlessly and scampering upwards, sideways, anyway it wanted. It was clearly at ease in the air.  
 _"_ _By the way,"_ Rag finished with his last thoughts, _"_ _You really need find that Shaman at some point, see if you can use that Class with armor."_  
There was a shaman? I can't even remember. Where was he? But Rag vanished and I was alone with my thoughts once again.

A few voices flirted around in the background, idle conversations. It's like they couldn't even see what was happening to me. Lord Bleeding Heart even showed up once during the trip, _"_ _My title is Kaazmiz," He said suddenly, "It is derived of my full name, though adding Lord in front amuses me greatly."_ I laughed at that. Completely laughed for everything I was worth. A bitter laugh, filled with this absurdity. Even on my death the voices were still prattling on.  
"I'll call you whatever the hell you damn well want," I shouted over the wind, "Lord Kaazmiz it is then! Happy birthday, Merry Christmas, Mozeltof! Whatever you want!" I struggled furiously against the bindings once more, but as usual, it was as immobile as a tomb.  
 _"_ _Lord Kaazmiz, like the sound of that, I should probably go and lead some civilization on its voyage across the sands of time..."_ He looked off forlornly to the side and stayed behind as I was flung over to the next tree. Insane. Utterly insane. I'm going to die an inane man. The voices don't care at all. There's no one. There can be no hope in this hell.

* * *

I was hauled off my ride, pulled up and suspended between a few tree trunks with long taunt lines of silk to my misshapen cocoon. Finally the trip seemed to be over. The pose was rather dramatic but the only thing that terrified me was the height. At this point, I had turned out to be so numb to the spiders my primal fear was more fixated on the altitude rather than the rational fear of _being digested alive._ We had reached an area of the forest littered with silk strands, covering the trees like a warm coat. Spiders of various sizes were everywhere around me, dotting the sheets of silk. Another one of those massive spiders descended in front of me slowly then, silk spinning behind it as it rappelled down to my level, coming to a quick stop. Unlike the other spiders, this one had no camouflage. Only a black sheen on its meticulously clean shell. And riding on its thorax, attached quite tightly, was a smaller red spider with a huge abdomen. Somehow, I knew that this was the brood mother. The queen.

Arbit was to my side, reading from a book. _"_ _Spiders exhibit varying levels of sociality. Whereas most spiders are solitary and even aggressive toward other members of their own species, some hundreds of species in several families show a tendency to live in groups, often referred to as colonies."_  
We took a glance around us. This was more than just a colony. It was a _hive_. He continued his discourse, oddly lucid. _"…_ _Well that what Archiver Wiki say."_ Knowledge from their plane is it? What's the archive say about all this?  
Forgotten had an answer to that, "I would suggest to try communicating with it, but I'm not sure if it could understand you." He thought, contemplating the queen in front of us.

Arbit glanced over, _"Ms. Webster says that eusocial mean living in a cooperative group in which usually one female and several males are reproductively active and the nonbreeding individuals care for the young or protect and provide for the group. So maybe being polite but confident when talking with the brood mother?"_ That's your advice? I snickered madly. Let me just invite her to a cup of tea, I'm sure that'll smooth things out. We're all civilized right? This is fucking insane.

I felt a _thought_ probe my panicking mind just then and I _knew_ it was from that red spider. A small burst of feelings and emotions went through me – it was all alien and utterly different from my own. Then with what I could only describe as a dismissive _tut_ , the alien mind _smooshed_ itself into me, smothering my fear until only reason remained.

Then the thoughts re-assembled themselves into English.  
 _So you are the pawn._ It boomed in my head, oddly feminine. For some reason, I was completely clearheaded and lucid now; the adrenaline had dropped sharply down as well. My heart stopped struggling to rip itself out through my throat too. So. I was surrounded by giant spiders and unlikely to live. I suppose I've had a good run. It might hurt, it might not, but that's all beyond the point anyhow right?  
"I'm not sure what you mean by pawn." I said calmly.  
 _You took command of one of my drones._  
Should I lie? That didn't seem like a healthy choice at the moment. But explaining the circus in my head… no idea where to even start on that mountain.  
"I have … spirits? I suppose that's a good word for them. They were testing things out, and one of them took over a spider. I didn't know it was yours. And I don't think the spirits knew either. They seemed panicked about what to do." The spider remained fixed, thinking.  
 _I understand. I am relived._

Well.

That was anticlimactic. Didn't even need to argue my innocence.

 _Fledgling, I am in your head. I see your thoughts are true._ I felt a small string of emotion from her, mostly mirth.

"Who are you?" I asked it curiously. Since I didn't feel a lick of fear in my body at anything, all that was left was curiosity.

Another light laugh from her. _I suppose answering would cost me nothing, and cost you little. Your debt is already final. Another drop of poison shall not change the ending._

So she did. It wasn't a name. More like a thought that entered my head. The best way I could describe it was: The last poisoned fang at the end of knowledge. You'd have to really think of the concept knowledge, of someone finding it out, and then being struck down by that specific knowledge's poisoned fang. And not the first few stabs – the final one. Metaphorically. It's tough.

 _But accurate enough. Our names tend to be long translated into your language._

"What's going to happen now?"

 _That one is easy. We will discuss, then you will die._

"Oh. I don't like the dying part too much."

 _No living being does. And yet it must happen to us all fledgling._

"Why kill me? I don't mean you harm."

 _Why take the chance of letting you live? The humans believe small colonies of spiders exist, but they think of us as another mindless monster. I have taken great care over the decades to maintain that. My brood stayed hidden from the humans of today, the goblins before them, and the dead king before them too. You are not the first intelligent being to know of my colony, but you are the only one living. One human life is a payable price for continued safety._

"I suppose I should be flattered. I don't feel too grateful however. What were you doing in Altana anyhow?"

 _I observe all settlements around my domain closely. One does not live to my age without a large network of information. I find avoiding a problem to be simple when I see every piece moving. Even your own departure in the forest was observed._

I realized right then and there, if I wanted any chance of surviving, I had to convince this spider to spare me.

 _You may try._ The last fang told me calmly. _I will allow it. I cannot think of a point myself, but perhaps you shall and it would be in my benefit to listen naturally._

"Do I have a time limit?"

 _I suppose you do. I shall allow you to choose it as well. Your companions are hunting after you even as we speak. They are stumbling through the forest, running into trouble and barely dealing with it. The frantic attempts to save you is destroying their fragile teamwork as it stands._

The spider seemed to peer into my very soul, eyes unblinking. No eyelids, I noticed.

 _The only voice of reason they have is a male dread knight, who seem determined to halt the male priest from overextending the group. I believe it likely that they will continue to hunt after you, well into night – even if the party fractures into two. That will be the death of them of course. Humans have proven irrational before in such cases, likely this shall be no different._

I could see Ranta and Mary deciding to leave, maybe even Shiharou would follow with them. Yume and Haru were a toss up. Manato and Mogzo would almost certainly never give up.

 _Thus, here is your choice. You may try to convince me to let you live within the next few hours. After which, I shall dispose of you, and lay your body in an area your party shall come across. They shall have their closure and return safely to their town as humans are want to do with such concepts._

The broodmother unhooked one arm, cleaning it with its mandibles dexterously.

 _Or you may choose to extend your own life instead. I shall keep you until your rations end, then you will likely die of thirst. However, on that decision – if your group happens to track you too close to the colony, I shall dispatch my warriors to cull them. I view the chance slim, but there is a chance nonetheless and it will only grow as the day passes. As for you, if you find no argument despite the additional time, d _eath by my hand is always within your decision whenever you so decide.__

How generous. I thought.

 _You say so now, fumbling with ignorance. I cannot guarantee your death will be painless, I simply lack the tools among my colony for such an end. Now am I so generous?_ She took a pause before I felt another tendril of questioning thought, _Unless you have a suggestion?_

What a morbid question. What a morbid situation really. I'm discussing with a giant spider about how best to kill me.

 _Life takes strange turns at the slightest moments, yes. But if you are not dying today then you will die someday in the future. Not many get a choice on how they die. Now then, let's begin your judgment._

I thought for a moment. If I was going to have a shot at this, I'd need to know as much about this spider as I could. _The problem with that thought,_ Last Fang delved, _is simply thus: the more you know about this colony and I, the more difficult it will be to convince me to spare you. After all, knowledge is the culprit behind your current circumstances._

I was reminded about her name. It fit completely.  
 _Thus you understand the true meaning of my name.  
_ "Would you mind leaving me to my own thoughts for a moment?"  
 _I shall not.  
_ "Gee. Thanks for your vote of cooperation."  
 _I owe you nothing human, but you owe me everything. Now, convince me._

* * *

 _ **Author's note:** Currently there's a huge debate among the players on how to weasel out of this one. Plenty of different plots and a whole lot of bluffing prepared but there's no real consensus yet as a lot of these plans are completely different from one another. Due to the amount of discussion, they've asked for extra time to come together - especially since they know if they fuck up here, S.B. **will** definitely be spider kibble. There's no plot armor in this story, neither for S.B. or anyone else._

 _We've been having daily updates for the past month, so I gave them two days to prepare before I'll resume and then they'll present their best plan forward.  
I could use the break anyhow.  
_


	13. Chapter 13

"Listen, I don't mean you any harm, I'm just a simple man trying to make a living out here," I pleaded with the spider. "Let me go, and I won't tell anyone about anything I've seen here. You got nothing to fear from me. Clearly you can squash me like a bug anytime." I'm pretty sure there's some magic vow out there that can do that. Got to be.

 _Fledgling, it is not you that I fear._ Last fang intoned in my head. _Should I let you go, perhaps you will live the rest of your life without ever running into my enemy. In fact, that is most likely to happen._ The spider shifted another leg, observing it for a moment. The movements were eerie beyond anything I could possibly describe. There was a certain coldness to the being in front of me.  
 _However, there is still a chance that you may be less then lucky. There are few beings in this world who can tear thoughts and memories from your mind as I can. My great enemy happens to be such a being._  
The leg reached out, poking at the cocoon that held me suspended, almost caressing it. It lifted upwards, making its way to my exposed neck. _My brood could not defeat that monster in our prime and yet you were taken by us so easily. What chance do you have of surviving if you happen to wander into my enemy? How could you possibly keep my colony safe?_

"I… well – err, you could always put a spider on me or something, point the way around right? If I ever run in an area that's got your enemy in it, you can just nudge me to leave right?"  
 _Watching over in constant worry until you grow old is a heavy commitment. All to save the life of one human? I think not._  
"I could be a correspondent! Trading human wears and bringing them to you or something! I could be useful!" I gritted, racking through my mind on what to say. If I can't prove I wasn't a threat, then I had to prove too useful to get killed, but the spider was resolute.  
 _Anyone that knows I still live is another chance that my old enemy returns to complete its punishment, however slight. Obscurity is worth far more than a few human baubles._ She said dismissively.

"Who the fuck has you so spooked?! If you tell me, maybe I'll be able to just avoid it entirely."  
The red spider chittered for a moment, then I felt a mental shrug.  
 _Perhaps knowing will be the key you require. That is a chance I cannot ignore. Very well, I shall tell you of my greatest and most ancient enemy._  
Last Fang lifted her body up – or rather vertically, since her ride was hanging upside down. I saw her feet claw through the air, looking for a strand. One scratch, two scratch, and on the third something resisted. Satisfied at the invisible thread, more of her feet searched for the rest of the strings. Then she lifted her body and settled on the wire-thin stretches I hadn't even noticed were in front of my nose this entire time. The bodyguard spider she had rode downwards on reeled itself slowly upwards, stopping just above.

Last Fang seemed to make herself comfortable, then she continued. _Most call it the Ash Huntsman, or simply the Ash hunter. An ominous name that supposedly struck enough chords among our human enemies back then. It was elemental of death perhaps. I do not know. The deathless king summoned it and the huntsman became one of his generals. No one knows more about its origin, including itself. During that era, I served the deathless king because there was an advantage to it for my brood. Near the end of the war, I saw more advantage in deserting, so I did._  
It's impressive how still the spider was while talking. Last Fang didn't wave her arms for anything. I couldn't even tell if her eyes were focused on me or not. Just pure blackness, unmoving.

 _My kind cannot move their eyes as you do fledgling. Instead, we simply have more eyes. If we cannot see, we turn our bodies. It also helps we can see through each other's eyes._ There was that mirth again. The spider might be about to kill me, but it clearly didn't mind taking it's time.  
"Great. So you get to leer at me from every angle." I muttered. I heard it laugh again, continuing where it left off.  
 _As that time went on, it had taken on the aspects most animals follow – it became more individual. Unlike animals, I cannot fault the huntsman for that flaw. It had no colony, nor brood. It was unique and the deathless king could not summon another. Thus for it to care about itself and its own happiness was in a way, to take care of its colony. A colony of one. That observation would later spark an idea that would save my own._

I could hear the voices in the back of my head. They were having a little pow-wow I could tell, and there was a lot of discussion on how the hell to get out of this one. Most of it was in whispers, made me think I had some secret backroom club in my head. VIP only. Last Fang hadn't seemed to notice, continuing with her history.

 _The huntsman took a prisoner during one battle. A young but powerful sorceress it wished to make use of. In their blindness, the humans had tormented the girl throughout her life, even her superiors had cast her away in order to save their own skin - The huntsman saw opportunity in that. It saw her potential when none of her kin did. Instead of killing her, it took her in. The woman became devoted to it naturally. When we talked, it always clarified to me that the girl was just an experiment to its eyes. It wished to understand humans better, to better fight them. It wished to know magic. Many many reasons, the huntsman would talk endlessly to me about what it had learned from the human girl. Years later, I defected. With my disappearance the remaining humans saw an immediate opportunity to strike out though my old territory. In the surprise attack the huntsman's experiment was captured, tried as a traitor within the huntsman's keep and killed.  
_

"Let me guess, it chased after you?" I asked quietly.  
 _Yes. I was young and thought little of the woman's death then. Understand, over decades the huntsman slowly grew weary of the fight against humanity. I had assumed it would also defect as I did. I thought it would care little for the woman; she was just an experiment to it as it had reminded me time and time again during our huntsman never had emotions like animals did. Or so I thought. I only realized in hindsight it did. The huntsman simply didn't understand it's emotions at all. It loved the girl, likely without knowing it had loved her – that is my theory. Regardless, a new emotion overcame it: Wrath._

"Why on you?"  
 _Perhaps it blamed me. My unwarned deflection caused the woman's death. The humans had gone through my territory after all. I was the one charged to guard the pass. However, I believe it was not just that. The huntsman may see my actions akin to a personal betrayal. We often spoke, we were neighbors for the most part. The deathless king would send both of us on similar missions, we fought side by side almost exclusively._  
Last Fang twitched, _It was a lonely thing, and neither of us understood our compatriots well back then. I had my brood and purpose, but it had nothing. I understand now that animals tend to become friends the more time spent among each other. Perhaps it thought of me as that. Or perhaps the loss of that woman drove it mad. I will not pretend to understand all of its intentions. The result is the same: Once it had massacred the humans responsible, the ash huntsman chased after me with a fury. It abandoned its lands and everything owned just to destroy me and everything I lived for._

How long ago was this? The deathless king and his undying empire was practically legends now. A hundred years had passed! Of course, Last Fang heard that in my head.  
 _Yes indeed, it has been some time. For the first sixty years, we fought – or rather I endured. It would find me every few months and I would flee. Many times I tried to kill it, but each time unsuccessful and at great cost. Finally, forty years ago I provoked a dragon and had it devour my colony in front of its eyes._ _  
_  
The broodmother thought for a moment, it shifted from side to side, waving like a lazy leaf. Which was different from its usual stoic silence. I could see the web it hung on, glittering in the dying light. I wasn't sure why, but her voice continued in my head momentarily after.

 _I sacrificed all of my bodies except for one I had just hatched a week ago and secreted away with a handful of warriors. In that moment, I convinced the huntsman that I had truly perished, along with the rest of my colony. No brood mother could ever conceive of doing such a move, but I had become desperate. The dragon gave a swift end, something the huntsman would never have allowed had it been the one to deliver my destruction. Still, it gave the huntsman its closure and that was enough to sate its wrath. Since then I have kept my colony small and hidden._

"That… a ridiculous amount of time! The huntsman must have gotten over its loss by now, right?" I threw out the question.  
 _Who can say but it? Certainly not you human, your life is measured in years and decades. Ours is measured in centuries. I cannot understand the huntsman, however it is reasonable to assume no amount of time will earn forgiveness for my offense._

"That's… a pretty bad history there."  
 _So it is. Have I answered your question?_  
"In spades."  
 _Has that given you new ideas?_  
"Not a single fucking one." Maybe something to do with the voices? They had those archives, they'd probably find something about the ash huntsman. They were still muttering angrily in the background, clearly clashing with one another. Come on guys, don't fail me now. I really need a whammy here or my goose is cooked.

The spider moved lazily to my left, almost crablike at first and righting it's direction with every step. Eventually it reached the strands that held my cocoon up. I realized in cold sweat it was approaching me. In a few moments, her forelimbs had reached my coffin and she deftly pulled the rest of her weight aboard. I really noticed her size by then. She was smaller than me, overall the broodmother must have been a meter and a half. The spider circled around the parameter, then settled behind me content.  
I felt a pair of thin black arms wrap around my throat, while another seemed to scratch my head gently.  
I didn't want to turn my head around, but with horrified curiosity I did. And right next to my face were a pair of fangs, as large as my hand. Only one eye was in sight from this angle. I was almost sure it was looking right at me.

 _You have faith in those voices of yours I see. You trust they will have a convincing argument._

That wasn't a question. A statement. I felt her reach into my head again.  
 _They are peculiar. It is as if a screen blocks them from my touch. Had you not been so convinced, I would have thought it an attempt to mislead. Or perhaps they simply mislead you first._  
"They're a pretty mysterious bunch to be honest. But I think they mean well enough." I answered flatly, quelling down my fear as best I could.  
 _I look forward to it. In many ways, it is not you that I worry about, but them._  
And like we dragged them out of the secret VIP club kicking and screaming, they came out swinging hard. I don't think they appreciated the broodmother getting this close to me.

 _"_ _I would argue that, as you currently hold the monopoly of force, and I have nothing to gain by disclosing your secret, it stands to reason only a suicidal fool would do so, as your eyes are endless. You know I speak the truth when I say I will never give up your secret."_ Lex said in my head, as if reciting from a scroll. Looks like he'd been picked as my defense lawyer.

The spider seemed to almost nod at that. _Agreed. I understand you would never willingly disclose my existence. But that will not stop the huntsman from doing so unwillingly. I've had many of my old bodies ripped apart by its mind._

Lex seemed to frown almost. Or perhaps narrow his eyes. Or nothing at all. I'm not really sure, but a feeling of cold anger seemed to be in the air.  
 _"_ _In fact,"_ He continued cordially. _"_ _An accord of mutual benefit could be reached, for gold is of no use to you, as for all the riches you might hold, many services and goods are at a price you aren't willing to brood could thrive like no other were I to help you."_

 _Your voices are truly something interesting. I find the confidence in its ignorance amusing._  
"How so?" I asked crossly. "That's kind of my friend you're dissing here."  
 _Fledgling, I was a general for the deathless king himself. My brood was the envy of all matriarchs. I commanded thousands of warriors and even had two dozen bodies at one time. Yet here I stay, perfectly content with my small colony. The decades have taught me much since I was young and foolish._

I narrowed my eyes on the red bug behind me. She could spin its words any way she wanted to, the reason why was pretty obvious to me: "You're _terrified_ of the Ash huntsman, aren't you?"  
I felt her arms close tighter around my throat. The fangs seemed to rest on the cocoon surface, right by my neck.  
 _Perhaps you are right._ Last Fang admitted openly. _Is this what terror feels like? I suppose there is always something learn. I was driven to sacrifice my whole colony to escape it after all. Had my younger self heard, she would not be able to comprehend such an action. None of my kind could. Such is why the ash hunter believed it, as I had hoped._

"Still, maybe it's time to poke your head out of the ground? It's been forty years, are you still going to kill me on the slight chance this relic happens to come across me?"  
 _Yes._ That other forearm tenderly scratched behind my ear. This is fucking bullshit.  
"What about all those relay spiders you've got all over the place?! If the huntsman just walks by one of them, it'll know you're alive right?" She tittered again.  
 _Had that been the case, it would have caught me decades ago. Fledgling, I grew… efficient at recognizing the ash huntsman long before it noticed me during my sixty years. The huntsman would always find me eventually of course. So long as it knew I lived, it was relentless. But I could keep it at bay for months, even years if I was especially lucky._ _  
_  
Lex spoke then, clearly angry about the lack of progress. " _You mistook our respect for weakness, Last Poisoned Fang At the End of Knowledge_." He said solemnly, a voice of iron. _"_ _We stood to gain nothing from a confrontation, but now you threaten to take what is_ _ **ours**_ _. For we too were ignorant, while we offered you the barest of slights, we can still let bygone be bygones. If you stop this foolishness now."_

 _I shall not._ Last Fang answered dryly. Then Lex said something that changed everything. _"_ _Know that your secret won't die with this man."_ He seethed calmly. _"_ _That we never forgive, and we never forget."_ The spider remained still for a moment. Then pain exploded in my head. I felt her mind crash into mine, peeling it open like a fruit, greedy arms ripping the meat apart for something.

The voices in my head reacted harshly to that, immediately they flocked like one to occupy the -  
A spirit I could **-**  
same space the brood mother did. I couldn't focus much more, my thoughts were -  
A spirit I could tell. Possessing the **-**  
breaking apart. She foraged through my head, I felt a spill of memories surface. -  
human? I felt it flock around me, trying to invade. **-**  
Most recent first, and then backtracking through to the past. She was -  
Already dull mutterings in the background appeared. I began to hear their -  
trying to look through my head. I clinched and struggled, **-**  
voices, but I had no interest in that yet. With a quick swipe of my mind-  
but the cocoon held me, and her mind clinched **-**  
the voices were clamped shut and expelled. The eerie feeling remained sickly-  
shut around my own like a vice. **-**  
sickly on my carapace. The spirit was around me, that I knew. But my barriers held strong -  
I felt **-**

* * *

I observed it quickly, now that it was in the open. Its existence was curiously opposite to mine, it had only one body to possess but a legion of spirits fused together. A hydra. The spirit had seemed too certain of itself. That it knew its hosts death would only be a setback, or at least it was bluffing such a possibility. I had to find the truth from fiction. I would not accept a single mistake. The host would have my answers. I tore into his mind, shifting through the torrent of worthless emotions for the meat in its memories. It screamed, but I sealed its mind, quickly knocking it unconscious. What I found next was… disturbing.

 _"_ _Well it's like this: We voices in your head can 'transfer' from universe to universe; you're not the only person we guide and interact with."_

This couldn't be right. This human's possessing spirit was delusional. I continued cycling through its memories, forcing the host to comply.

 _"_ _Sorry about the whole 'gone quiet' bit; We were processing the results of a bad decision - we'll tell you about it later, for now we need you to trust us on this: What you've just come across a scam,  
_  
No. This cannot be must be a pre-meditated redirect.  
 _  
Slowly, but steadily the world in general began tofeel real again_.

I snapped from its memories for a moment. The creature had it's head lulled on the side, knocked out cold. There was evidence to point it could be true. Since there is a chance that this spirit is what it claims to be, then I must have a plan to assume for that possibility.  
Immediately, I took precautions. There may be an option where the human's continued survival and alliance is optimal. Thus, I peered through my network of relays, looking for the fledgling's pack. I quickly found them. The group was not in good shape. They had ran into three packs of goblins and hadn't stopped for rest. The mage and priests had run out of mana. The group was relying on the female priest's stash of bandages for the moment. I could tell from the glances, they were considering use of their potions already.

I dispatched my warriors to eliminate targets ahead of them and lead them to the decoy hive here. They obeyed without question, though I could understand the confusion in their thoughts. I will have them run circles around until a decision is made. Humans, and their war with the goblin and orc nations, was easy to manage. A crimson moon pack could potentially amount of hundreds of goblin deaths over their lifetime. Killing that group would come at that cost. I returned to the options at hand.  
My limbs twitched nervously. This situation had turned from light to heavy in a heartbeat. My brood was threatened once again. With death, the hydra spirit will return carrying information of my brood's existence into a timeline where an alternate brood would be none the wiser, putting them at risk without a defense. That is unacceptable. If I chose to sacrifice an alternate brood, then every other alternate brood would do the same.

Solutions? I split my thoughts and sent them to my sister bodies. The three answered back immediately.  
Confinement of the hydra's host, one said. No, it was not an option. Time to the hydra was meaningless, assuming they were dimensional beings. Eventually, the human would die of old age or sickness. Then the hydra will return to the past and this time with malice. That is the worst outcome.

Destroy the hydra, another whispered. Failing that, destroy its ability to return in time and kill the host. This is a possible solution. I benched the idea for the moment, waiting for all answers to my call.

Create a compulsion within the human. No, dead end thinking. The hydra would notice, and the compulsion would only remain in effect until the human died. The next timeline's host will follow no such thing, but the hydra will remember.

Destroy the information itself. Deceive the hydra into believing I and my brood were eradicated. It must be a clear cut end, such that the hydra believes in every timeline possible, this hive is simply fated to be destroyed without their intervention.  
Sub-optimal, I shot back. If the huntsman stumbles on this human, it will know we feigned our destruction once already with that dragon. The huntsman was a clever being. I remembered our discussions from ages past. Sixty years hunting after me, and another forty to its own devices could only make the being sharper.

Protect the host from the enemy, my first body returned. Sub-optimal I thought back, there is still a chance the host is captured despite my direction.  
Post guards? She asked.  
The chance decreases but does not disappear. My warriors may fail.  
Attach a kill command to the host? Should it run into my enemy, eliminate the host immediately.

Hmmmm, possible solution, but it brings another problem: The hydra may choose to renegade on our deal and avoid the new timeline's broodmother. There is no option to threaten the hydra into complying. Therefore, I must convince it that reaching out to the new timeline's broodmother would be in its best interests. What motivates this hydra? Memories of the human points that the hydra is invested in this human's survival. I will abuse their greed then. This is a possible solution. I put it aside, continuing down the list.

Confrontation with the Ash Huntsman. Impossible, I immediately shot back. Even on our prime the brood could not defeat that monster. If by chance it had grown weaker over the years, so have we.

Assume the hydra can defend itself against the huntsman. I rolled back through memories of combat with it. I remembered my own tactics against the huntsman. There was no winning move. Banking on the hydra defending it's mind against the huntsman was a gamble. I put the idea aside.

Relocation. Assume the Huntsman now knows the colony still lives. It will know we were last spotted in Altana, thus it will appear here to hunt. Moving the core hive and leaving decoy trails in every direction will certainly buy us a month or two. The colony is only three hundred and twenty two warriors. Movement can be done easily. Perhaps with the smaller colony, I could avoid the huntsman indefinitely? Possible solution. Doable in parallel. I set one of my bodies begin work immediately. Regardless, I had spent too much time in Altana. I had grown complacent.

No other alternative solutions came to mind. Destroy the hydra, hope that the hydra could resist the huntsman, or become an indisposable ally.  
If I attack and fail to destroy it before it can retaliate, the hydra will no doubt kill its host to escape. Then it will either plan to retaliate or avoid all contact – both conditions are unacceptable. There is a chance of failure in this plan, I cannot take it.  
Likewise by assuming the hydra could resist the huntsman's torture. The amount of holes in that plan made it sink faster then a rock would.  
Only one option remained then that minimized all possible risk to the colony. This option also ran no risks if the spirits could not go back in time as they claimed. I dove into the human's mind again, this time bringing it back to consciousness. The beady alien eyes opened and focused on my body. I've heard before that humans can guess emotions by looking at each other for visual cues. I could not, but it's mind was open enough to tell.

"… gonna guess that was you?" It asked me, wearily.  
 _If you are referring to your sudden sleep, then yes._  
"What did you do?"  
 _I peered through your memories to confirm facts._  
"… I see. Well?"  
 _I believe you. You will not die._

I felt a tang of incomprehensible relief from his mind. I reminded myself many animals feared death in the same way I fear for the end of my progeny. Overloaded with such irrational individual desires, these creatures were. I've met many individuals willing to destroy their entire colony for personal gain, or in spite of an enemy. It's a wonder animal races were even functional. But I couldn't fault them any longer. I had after all, eliminated my own colony so that my colony would survive. A contradiction. And one that had worked.

Its next thoughts were of its family pack. That I could understand.  
 _They are safe._ I told it. _I have dispatched my warriors to eliminate any threats they walk in direction of, and I am leading them here where I have more control._

Another bout of relief, then worry.  
 _They will not die either. You and I will enter into an agreement. A partnership if you will. I will watch over you, and give you a boon in addition._ Apply to the hydra's greed.  
I ordered a few warriors from the true hive to bring the cocooned undead warrior. It would take them at least a quarter of an hour to arrive. Another three scavenged the pockets of the rest of the undead I had taken. Their work was slow, their bodies were not made to handle such fine detail that didn't involve weaving.  
 _I keep a small handful of undead, wrapped up. Anytime humans being to encroach on my domain, I loose the undead upon them. Usually they retreat. One of these guardians is a warrior I recovered twelve years ago. The undead do not attack anything other than humans, remaining dormant for years on end until roused by living blood nearby._  
"Oh. Undead. My favorite." The human snarked. I understood it's hesitation as well. After all, I had spent some time delving into the creature's memories.

 _This particular undead carried good armor. It is old, likely rusted, and certainly damaged. But you can manage with it._  
"Wait, you're just giving me a plate of armor?" The human questioned, I felt it's mind curious.  
 _Yes. I am committed to your continued survival now._ Perhaps not completely true, but true enough. _I will also retrieve currency from the other undead guardians I kept. It may not be much, but it should provide your pack with enough to start strong._

Enough so that if this human dies, the hydra will be persuaded to appear before that new timeline's broodmother. Since I have given this boon, all other broodmothers will do the same. And thus, each one can keep the human under watch, should it ever approach the huntsman. Thinking of that, it was time to put that plan into action.

 _However there is a cost to my assistance and your life._ I told it, uncurling my arms from its neck.  
The human snickered, turning around to look at me closely. "No such thing as a free lunch. All right what's the catch? My soul?"  
 _Amusing. Do I look like a demon to you?_  
"Depends on your definition."  
 _Point. The cost of all this is that you must carry with you this spider._ I told it, commanding a relay spider to appear next to the human's head.  
"GAh! Don't scare me like that! I got enough of you creepy crawlies during the day, now you're saying I've got to sleep with one too?"  
 _Would it be better if the spider looked human? Perhaps with a torso of a woman pleasing to your eye._  
"I feel that's an inside joke, but I'm not sure why I think that."  
 _A jest for sure. No such breed exists within my command. I might command my brood completely, but I certainly cannot mutate it to fit my desires._

"Right, so why exactly do I have to be new best friends with my spider pet here?"  
 _If I detect the huntsman anywhere near you, this spider will bite down and end your life._  
"Fuck me, I thought I was out of this already?"  
 _It is a mercy fledgling. The huntsman will torture your very soul if it finds out you have spoken to me. Death is preferable to facing him._ I threw into its mind a memory of my own. In one of my earlier battles with the huntsman, back when I had still been too naïve. It had captured one of my bodies and prevented me from retreating my mind out of it. For three hours it attempted to destroy my entire spirit through that one captured body. It seemed more focused on torture then to actually end my existence.

It had nearly succeeded with the latter too.

I was forced to kill a part of myself to escape. The memory was akin… to cutting off your own arm in order to flee a bear trap, which continuously shredded the limb while violating your spirit. Accurate, if wordy. After that incident I immediately abandoned any of my bodies with even a chance of being cornered. No cost was too great. The human seemed flinch at my memory then screamed as the details entered his mind. It took it a few minutes to recover and stop shacking.  
 _That was just a memory._ I sent to the human dryly. _Much of it is missing since I purged that part of my soul to escape._

"You've got one hardcore enemy lady. That was pure hatred. I wouldn't do that to a plant." The fledgling said emphatically. I think my point was passed well enough. I remained silent.  
"I'll take it with me." It said after a moment, "What's its name anyhow?" The human asked me, glancing at the relay spider in front of its face. A flicker of disgust floated through its head.  
 _Name? A relay spider has no name. It has no spirit either. It is simply a creature that extends my view._  
"Elise it is." He tutted. "Right. So now what happens?"  
 _We decide how I release you to your companions. There are many options. I could give you a hero's return._  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
 _Among my colony are older males who have reached the end of their life cycle. They await to be consumed by the next generation. Instead, I will have them follow you down, where you will kill them. Surrounded by dead spiders and one defeated undead, your party will find you. Feel free to create the story, humans tend to excel at such things._

"Not bad. Not bad at all." It muttered, a glint of greed in its mind. Animals certainly had an ego.  
 _If that is not acceptable, you may tell them you slipped your bindings, and fought off the spider carrying you until it chose to retreat. Then, you defeated the wandering undead for its armor and coin._

"I'm meh about that. Like the first plan better." It said.  
 _Perhaps. But it is not you I'm speaking to. It is the hydra that is possessing you._ That is where the goodwill needs to go.  
 _Your final option would be to reject the armor, gear and coin and follow the previous story. That would be best if you wish to remain less famous in town._

"Oh right. Gossip spreads fast. I'm also meh with this one. No matter what, my team saw me get carried off by giant spiders and then come back alive alone. That's going to make the headlines. Might as well swing it for the best light possible."  
I could feel the human was trying hard to persuade its hydra rather then myself.

The hydra's heads seemed to be coiled. A majority of them were still wrapped around me, but of course I had a spirit. Possession only works on the willing or the soulless after all. One of them whispered into its hosts mind, giving me a view on how the symbiotic relationship worked. Most spirit possession was absolute. This one was a partnership.  
 _"_ _Sorry for the lack of introduction, but you may call me Mr. Heng. Honestly, I feel like I'm the only one who's divulging my real name to you, so I felt apprehensive about my need for an introduction."_ The hydra's head coiled, as if thinking. _"_ _In fact, we all actually know what your name is, SB, but it's quite outlandish, so you'd be better off just sticking to SB or Sobato and never finding out what it actually stands for."_  
"All right, I'll retire Chibi-chan for ya." The human looked at me, and I felt a transition of hostility. Perhaps it had glared at me?  
"Could you not eavesdrop on my conversations?" It spat.  
 _Very well then._ And I followed through with my word. I uncoiled my mind from the human's and retreated back into my bodies. My sister bodies were at work micromanaging my colony, and directing a recent deer kill for maximizing food and calculating which warrior would eat and which would return to the hunt. The other was organizing the core hive for our retreat from Altana. I wished I was doing that instead of dealing with this. The simple things of commanding a colony were extraordinarily filling. Alas, this is also a part of my role.

The human chuckled then, "After all this time, now you tell me your name Beta? Classy. Right then Khiruki." Then it stopped, and seemed to clench a few muscles on its face. Without a connection to the animal's mind, I could not tell what it thought.  
"What the actual fuck is this?" The human announced. I have the distinct impression I was better off not knowing.


	14. Chapter 14

Well. Looked like a clean win for team Sobato. I thought to myself happily. Or as happy as one could be surrounded by giant telepathic spiders and hung a good three stories in the air. That wouldn't last long, Last Fang had already summoned a few workers to cut me down. However! I can still complain about anything; that's how I know I'm still sane.  
The workers didn't cut through the silk bindings like I'd thought. Instead, they spat some sort of acid which dissolved the silk like water to cotton candy. I was slightly very worried about how that acid would do on my skin, but turned out my fear had been for naught. In less than ten minutes, I had my feet firmly planted on the ground, arms free and stretching out my sore back.  
Spectrum was right beside me, almost appearing from my own shadow. _"_ _There, there. Things are going to be okay now, good job being brave."_ She said, patting my head lightly. I raised an eyebrow at that. Is this the part where I get a lollipop, and vodka? No?  
Seemed she'd learned from our Alpaca and made herself into a visual hallucination like the others. Least she had some class in keeping it human. No one disliked eye candy. No one sane at least.

She had a slight smile, which instantly put me on the defensive – I could see where this was going from a mile away. "Spectrum, honey, we're friends right?" I said lightly, like cornered prey. "And friends let other friends have their armor."  
 _"_ _Sorry S.B."_ She said, fan lofty to the side, _"_ _What you want and what you should do are two separate things."_ Ahhhh shit. I knew it was too good to be true.  
"You're breaking my heart here."  
 _"_ _Look, everyone knows you're a rookie and your team has a decent idea of your skill-and unfortunately the last memory they have of you was you fumbling your spear and getting carted off."_ She answered back, ever the voice of reason. _"_ _There's no shame in that given how little you've fought but it also means you need to build your story with that in mind. If you come back with too much loot and a story of having killed a bunch of stuff, there's going to be some HARD questions asked. You don't want your party doubting you."_  
Don't worry, I'll just go for broke on a charisma check. I can do it! Believe in me!  
But spectrum had a story in mind already. _"_ _So, you slipped your bonds right next to a corpse, which was already inert. You picked up its weapon and used that to fight off the spider, then looted it and booked it back to your party. That's at least within the realm of plausibility."_

I sat and thought a bit. "What if I did that, but-"  
Chaos interrupted me, _"_ _S.B There is no benefit for going all out to make yourself out as a hero, in fact it will only cause many problems."_ And then she went down a goddamn list of reasons why this was all a terrible idea. Even Ranta came into the discussion. Ranta!  
Spectrum picked up the next bit, _"_ _Fighting off an undead while solo and right after fighting the spider? I like you S.B. but...not happening. Yet."_  
"Every time you say 'yet' it's right after shattering all my hopes and dreams. I could get traumatized you know!" I grumbled and moped. It didn't work.

Goddamn it. **Armor**. Motherfucking _armor_! That means no more stabby things getting under my skin! It's a good thing! Getting stabbed involves death, and death is bad – simple math. If there's one thing I learned to love from Richard is was good armor in the right places. He'd told me a proper fitted set of armor could cost a gold or even two.  
The oldest voice reappeared to my other side, backing me up. _"_ _The armor is pretty damned important. Spin the tale of some monster pursuing the spiders maybe, but you NEED that armor at this level of skill. No matter how badass a weapon you have, it does nothing if you can't reliably put the pointy end into them"  
_  
And that's when a recognizably new voice entered the din.  
 _"_ _There's no point to making our team overawed and having this incident color EVERY interaction with them for months or surviving and brushing it off like a cool guy - you wanna be a cool guy S.B - is the way to go, it nets you inevitable fame, but it's manageable."_  
Why I! Uhhh… Damn. I hate it when they have a point.

It continued, making that point sharper. _"_ _People will hear about what happened, if you can't get your group to keep their mouths shut, but you might even be able to convince them to be quiet. Should you succeed at that, there will be incomplete information only available to those interested in how your group got such a great start. They'll know something unusual happened, everyone will want to hear the story, but you can keep mysterious about it."_  
Oh. Ho ho ho, clever. The voice seemed to smugly agree. _"_ _This gives you time to build up a reputation without immediately biting off more than you can chew. If you dress yourself up like war hero, someone is going to make you PROVE it, which you can't."_ It took a pause, before glancing to Spectrum. _"_ _Yet."_ It snickered. You little shit, I almost liked you for a moment there.  
The din in my head quickly descended into lengthy sermons left and right about just what I could and couldn't get away with. I tuned them out and turned to my new best friend.

Last Fang tried to get me armor, as far as I'm concerned I completely forgive her for trying to murder me a few minutes ago. I'm a simple man, armor and gold is the most romantic sonnet to my innocent heart. The relay spider Elise on the other hand was a problem.  
"Any suggestions on how to hide this spider? I can't really think of any story to cover this. Can't just say it followed me home you know." I asked, turning my attention to a certain red spider in the air.  
 _The spiders are durable enough._ She answered, reeling down five feet from the ground. Or rather, having her bodyguard do that for her. Either she was a lazy broodmother, or she was incapable of producing silk. I hadn't seen her do anything other than laze on a pre-made web, or creep around me. Just like that, the relay spider skittered around and burrowed itself under one of my armor plates. I could see it, like a black thing pressed as far back as it could into the recesses. Kind of like a crab under a riptide rock. It was almost cute. Almost.  
"I might squish it by accident sometime. And I don't mean intentionally. Heat of combat and all that."  
 _I assumed. Should it die, I will have another meet you in town on your return._  
"I guess that's the best we can do."

Over in the background, the voices were still debating among one another on what the hell to do with all this. A new voice had joined in with the rest. I tuned back into it.  
 _"_ _S.B. making a hero's - slash - solo-survivor's return can lead Mary to feel a bit less remorse for not having been able to protect S.B. when he was first carried off, which otherwise must be the emotion she must be feeling right now."_  
Oh right. Spectrum told me Mary had history. I just don't know exactly what. _"_ _Like the above, depending on what happens later, it can set off a chain of events that leads her to go from"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you then. I will try to protect you more from now on"to"now I'm suspicious of who slash what you are". It might not be a good start for those who plan to ship S.B. x Mary in the future."_... And I'm tuning off now.

I found myself a nice rock and sat down while I waited for the circus to die down in my head. Last Fang was motionless, but I had the feeling her own head wasn't quiet either. All around the spiders were bustling, wrapping up scattered prey and bringing it together. It's like we were in the center of the storm. I thought about my group again. The past few hours I'd been so focused on staying alive, I regret to say I completely had them out of my mind.

 _"_ _If you think about it this is good learning experience for your group to know one of them could die."_ Arbit said to my side. Looks like he had stayed out of the loot discussion for the most part. He'd also chosen to look like a tiny spider with a water droplet as a hat. Thankfully, it actually looked cute instead of nasty. _"_ _Especially one of the two who leads them, though that not an excuse to not apologies. Especially to Manato and Mogzo, who think of you as a brother ...albeit it was our fault."_  
You're goddamn right! Still, we got some good stuff out of it. Now we just need a plan to haul it back home.  
 _"_ _Mmm. Don't get greedy. There's a saying; "Never consume any energy field bigger than your head."_ Beta, or actually known as Khiruki among his peers, hoofed it over to me.  
"I'm sure that's a valid saying for trans-dimensional information based beings."  
 _If you can, you should find out more about what exactly they are. They are certainly not anything I've seen before._ Last Fang advised me.  
"Shoo! I'm having a polite discussion with the voices in my head!"  
 _As you will._  
"….Hold up, I'm just joking with you - I don't mean to be hostile."  
 _I see. I am relieved then._ Good thing I cleared that up, I have a feeling the spider had a very hard time understanding emotions and humor, considering she didn't need either to run her colony.

The alpaca munched on more grass before it spat its wisdom at me. _"_ _In this case, don't go for fame or reputation you can't actually back up. You didn't solo an undead, you looted a corpse."_  
Lex had drifted over to our corner in the meantime. He'd been in the middle of the debate, last I'd heard he was discussing possible armor upgrades for the mage and company in great detail. _"_ _Do we even know if thereareweapons to take? We know there is_ _armor_ _, we know there is_ _some amount of money_ _. Sure, going back with 30 gold is probably a very bad idea, but suggesting taking "some" of the money will backfire if it is only a few dozen silvers."_  
The alpaca snorted, _"_ _So he'll just take the armor. S.B. is his own person with his own judgement. The main point is to not be greedy."_  
"Damn right I am." I answered. "Besides, I see a pretty simple solution to this honestly."  
I might not have a master's degree in bullshitting my way out of things, but I still had some common sense at least. "Last Fang," I asked the spider, while Lex and Khiruki continued their discussion.  
 _Yes human?_  
"Think you can hold onto that stuff for a bit? Maybe set it down somewhere tomorrow, where we'll run into it? Or spread it over time? Maybe just destroy the undead's head and lay it near a stream or something where the group will stumble over it. Prest0- free armor for the taking. Voices don't want me to make too much of a ruckus returning to civilization."  
I felt Chaos in the background quip. Looks like he'd also suggested the same plan.  
 _I can arrange that yes. I would advise your return within the next few days since I am leaving Altana within the week. Otherwise, I will secret it away someplace other adventurers won't find it._  
"Right, because I'm too old to hide it all under my bed. Besides, that's where Ranta sleeps and the little prick will definitely steal all of it." I sighed. Surviving all this felt like succeeding in some level thirty quest, while level one. And I wasn't even going to keep my loot at this pace! Curse you trans-dimensional beings and your responsible agenda!  
"One last thing, is there a weapon I can use?"  
 _The undead warrior has a broken short sword and rotted shield. You use a spear and dagger yes? While the sword is... usable, it is not a long term investment._

I clapped my hands loudly. Seemed I got the attention of the voices now. The spiders on the other hand continued without notice. "We need a story. I get you guys all don't want me walking back with angels singing behind, so let's figure out exactly what trumpet they'll use instead."  
 _"_ _I mean, for a basic story, just saying S.B. escaped and ran off, then happened upon a corpse which he then looted... but really, the main thing I don't want is some claim of beating any difficult enemies."_ The alpaca shrugged. Seemed good enough.

Lex quirked, _"_ _That's pretty much it, though? That's what she is offering. What I'm pointing out here is that being humble here - "Take just the best weapon and a tiny bit of coin" - isn't likely to accomplish anything other than simply less loot. He came upon a couple corpses, or barely held together undead he could bash with a rock, and luckly they were also carrying some coin. Perfect cover."  
"Don't forget they might have artifacts!"_ Arbit added, _"_ _Or spellbooks for Shiharou or Manato!"_  
The alpaca snorted, then he spoke in my voice, _"So I was traipsing through the forest after escaping those meanie spiders, and I found a bunch of dead bodies! Oh my! Well, you know me, I just_ _ **love**_ _desecrating the dead, so I just looted the shit out of that body and got this sweet armor! Oh, but that wasn't enough, so I jacked these magic books too! Man, I just love fucking around with dead bodies! Sorry, I would've come back earlier, but I saw something shiny! Tee hee~"_

Do I sound like that? I don't sound like that right? I'm clearly much more confident about looting the dead. Khiruki raised an eyebrow but just carried on back with his own voice, _"_ _There is a point where stories will break suspension of disbelief."_  
Lex answered back calmly, _"_ _Who's to say what some corpse deep in the forest had on himself? S.B. was lucky, just found the bodies of a warrior and a mage slash hunter slash whatever. They did find those gems and a magic ring on the undead, so not unreasonable."_ He took a pause for a moment, _"_ _Do you think the half dead, completely exhausted party will bother to suspect his luck and walk another three hours in the jungle to verify his claims? Or just be happy he is actually alive, and on top of all found some loot. That's what I'm saying."_ He ended with his hands raised for peace. _"_ _Loot is Serious Business. Take everything not nailed down, and then bring out the power tools, that's the Adventurer Way. The group leader needs a dramatic origin story, and should be the first to get new gear."_

I remember back in the alleyway when Lex first appeared, his advice back then was to take charge of the group.  
But the Alpaca clearly disagreed with that plan. _"_ _I'll state this now: I wholly reject the notion that S.B. should be party leader. I wouldn't trust anyone here to run a goddamned taco cart."  
He took a critical glare around him. "Everyone together? The goddamned taco cart will end up giving mass food poisoning. Manato is a good leader because he is charismatic and well liked by everyone in the party. You were right about one thing though, colder decisions will be necessary at times. Those should not be done by the leader, and should be done by a lieutenant or captain to allow for people to keep their morale. This party is not a goddamned military under a dictatorship. They are free to leave whenever if they do not like their party leader. Making goddamned HARD MAN decisions does not make you liked, and will chase off party members."_

Technically, they were free to leave anytime they wanted to of course. The alternative is to starve in an allyway or survive like Kate. It's not much of a choice. But... our group was seven, which means we're almost big enough to form two groups. By definition, we're less of a party and more of a nameless clan. Looks like I'm officially the bad cop and Manato was the good cop anyhow. Fine, I could play the role of the guy people hate. Ranta does it perfectly and he's still in the group.  
Spectrum waved her fan threateningly, quieting down people. _"_ _The story needs to not only hold up when he meets the party now, it needs to hold up when he's going to have give more details back in the tavern, and it needs to hold up when -other people- are listening in at the tavern. They're veterans with good eyes, they know what rookie adventurers are capable of and solo killing undead, much less multiple undead, right after supposedly fighting off a kidnapping spider is not within that capability."_ She glanced at me before I could even open my mouth, _"_ _Don't go full LN protagonist. You never go full LN protagonist."_ As far as I knew, LN protagonists had plot armor right? And actual armor too sometimes. I think the benefits were pretty goo-shutting up now.

Story wise, we didn't get very far as a group. Lot of people were split in every direction. Mr. Heng suggested calling ourselves a necromancer and swinging the story around that. Everyone else was a mix between grabbing some stuff. Lord Bleeding Heart, Great defender of the downtrodden but coldblooded little girls except totally not and just a greedy manipulative bastard had a grand plan. I suppose I could call him by his real name, but it slipped my mind. Honest. His idea was that a mass of undead were attracted by my passing and attacked the spider hive. In the fighting, I managed to escape with just my wits and my dagger. In the middle of all that, another new voice cracked into existence.

 _"_ _Okay Just caught up from the archive . Seriously that provably could have gone better Let's NOT do that again ever."_ It announced, appearing as a penguin of all things. With a knife.  
The voices were eccentric to say the least. That said, I'll take eccentric any day over demonic. They could pick to look like eldritch abominations, but they're appearing as animals mostly, save for chaos and spec who appeared as women. _"_ _Oh I'm 103 by the way sorry for taking up more of your head space I'll try not to be a pain in your neck."_  
"Sure," I said neutrally. "We were missing someone with only numbers in their name. I think the only one left unchecked on the list is someone with six or more X's in their name."  
I shot them all a glance. "That better be left unchecked."

A few leather pouched were tossed in my direction by passing warrior spiders, and one tiny casket. I saw them hauling over a cocoon as well. It was twitching. Ever the smart man, I decided not to ask questions and instead start counting up the pouched loot. All together, the undead adventurers that the broodmother had managed to bag came down to twenty silver and fifty seven capas. I thought I was rich. Then I opened the casket. Other than a few business letters and paperwork that had long since faded out, I found nine gold. Dear diary, jackpot.

Let me say that again. Nine. Gold. **Pieces**. In this world, buying a house would be about to thirty to forty for a good sized one. We're not talking loaning money to a bank or anything – straight up buying a house and property attached. For life. In your name. That you could pass down to your kids and their kids too. The only thing you'd have to pay is taxes for the local lord but that's the typical. Buying a house was something you'd do after thirty years or so. Ten if you're an epic adventurer. It's basically a lifetime of work. And in my hands I was holding a good _one fourth_ of that amount.

We were fucking rich. Richer then rich. I had money signs on my eyes right now looking down on this, drool included. Whoever the undead was, it was probably some courtier running an errand for some fat cats in a friendly agreement. Damn were we lucky. Gold baby! Gold!  
I glanced at Spectrum and quickly curled protectively over my new horde, suddenly empathetic to all the dragon stories I've ever heard. The fan twitched. I had a terrible feeling about this. My greedy pig was going to get dragged into the slaughterhouse in a moment, I could just tell. Time to divert attention.

"Last Fang, what would you recommend?" I asked her.  
 _For a story to placate your pack?_  
"Yep." I answered, stuffing down the coins to smuggle awa – I mean doing absolutely nothing to hide this puny amount of money from any of my compatriots stuck in my head.  
 _Tell them nothing. They'll find you stumbling, bleeding and wounded, but alive. Let their own imagination fill the gaps. When they ask, tell them you'd rather forget._  
"Wait, Bleeding and wounded?" That made me stop all progress for a moment, contemplating. I mean what progress? Just sitting on this rock doing nothing important, yep.  
 _I will order my warriors to attack you. Shallow wounds that will make you look far more battleborne then the truth. Your pack will react more emotionally to your re-appearance, and they will be far less critical of your story._  
"I don't like the sound of that…"  
 _You may not, but your hydra might. It wanted you to integrate faster with your pack yes? Appeal to their sympathy, It is an obvious move._

One of the new voices approached me. I'd counted three already just this past few minutes. Starting to wonder if it's just stressful situations that makes my mind create new ones. But Last Fang took them seriously, so there's really no telling where they're coming from. _"_ _Ask Yume if she knows anything about using crossbows."_ He began, _"_ _I have a feeling that you will be facing even gobbies that use crossbows eventually. How about using the same weapons against them? Crossbows do not require a lot of training to master, and they are very effective at sniping unaware targets from long range. Also, inquire around town if they do not have bolts that are made of silver: they could prove instrumental in your next encounter with the undead or magical beasts. Silver weapons could be better, but I guess they are a lot more expensive as well. With bolts you wouldn't really need to buy many of them."_  
Pragmatic. I approve. Yume might actually be better with a crossbow then a bow. Who knows?

With that, I approached the little meetup they were having and sat myself down.  
"Sun's going to set in five hours. Let's get a decision out and move on with it."

They didn't have an answer. Instead, they seemed to glare at my direction before hunching back around their little club and frantically discussing tactics among each other. I found a closer rock that was least covered in silk and other debris and sat down happily enough, tweedling my thumbs. For the most part, my discovery of gold seemed to stroke their inner greedy pig, just like it had mine. Plenty of entities were discussing to outright take a portion of the money with us. A few others were in favor of just leaving it all to find at the Tyule chest. Some of the crazier ideas involved breaking down the warrior undead's legs or weaken it greatly so that the group would find me locked in combat, or hauling the undead armor and all back home.

While I hung around, one of the new voices meandered to my rock. I raised an eyebrow, lately I haven't had good ideas on how to name everyone of them. In fact, the amount of spirits crammed into my head was making it spin. I'd need to keep a list pretty soon - not to mention they changed names like a politician changes their mind. _"By the way, I would also want to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself as Master Yii."_ The new voice said.

"Master Yii?" That sounded familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it again, but maybe I'd known him in my past life? Turns out, Yii was a veteran soldier, a warrior who'd dedicated his life to the fight. It was good to know I'd have experience riding on my shoulders now. " _Although almost the entirety of my life was spent fighting, or studying the art of war at epic scale and not much else, I will strive to advice you both within and out of combat in your travels to the best I can."_  
It seems some of the voice approached my rock too. They've come up with a plan. Or, as it turns out, just one part of the plan. Namely, I'd be secreting away a gold coin with me from the stash.  
Even Spectrum seemed to have been bit by the money bug, although she was worried on how it would affect the group dynamics. Her eyes were twitching dangerously at the internal conflict. _"Nine gold...at that rate, Mogzo, Haruhiro, Shihoru, Yume, Ranta, and Manato can all go retire and start that ramen stand instead. You'll just have to keep going with Mary and form a new party."_  
Ha. As if the merchant guilds would let us set up shop that easily. But thinking of the rest of them keeping up a stall, nice and safe in the town made me smile. Other then Manato and Mogzo, I don't think the others were really cut out for this life. Spectrum glanced back, and seemed to mutter to herself. _"...wait. Wasn't I supposed to be convincing myself and the rest of you not to take the money?"_

I'm certainly not arguing against! Lex was in agreement too. _"Damn, that's a lot of gold. Though split eight ways it isn't nowhere close to the fortune it truly is. It will come down to one gold, fifteen silvers and seven capas each. Averynice payday, but not a jackpot. Not if high quality armor alone is 2 gold."_ Which is **was** , because this world sucked. Blacksmithing took years to learn, so of course there was a high price behind it. You'd even need upwards to three gold for decently _enchanted_ armor. But a regular set without any bells and whistles that fit snugly would be around one to two gold.  
The oldest voice nodded, _"I'd concede that while the armor is pretty vital to survival, it's a bit of a stretch. It's also easier to argue for keeping the armor if you find it alone later instead of going as a group, so you don't need to argue over who gets the awesome armor."_ It took a glance at me, _"Otherwise, you just KNOW Ranta is going to throw a fit about taking it out of your share, or trying to lay claim to it."_

… Ranta does as Ranta is. Given a gold, he'll probably spend it all on the first cool looking but impractical sword he comes across, like tourist bait. Then he'll complain about going broke and blame someone else. Yii spoke up then, _"When you find the gold and other loots in the undead's chest, you are going to share it with everyone."_ He said sternly. _"Err, not that I want to dictate my preference to you or anything, but I think they deserve that much for trying to save you until the very end at great risk to their own life…. even Ranta... because despite what he said, he still did not abandon his party who were heading into certain death."_  
That's one way to think about it. But anyone with half a brain would follow the majority especially since living alone out here is asking for misery. Although… Ranta didn't have much foresight at all, so I guess he really did follow the party out of loyalty. _"And because you are a good guy you would have thought to do that yourself anyway."_ Yii finished. Well….

There's the right move, and there's the profitable move. Can't recall too many cases where they were the same thing, sadly. That said I hadn't actually thought too much more than: _Wow we're fucking rich._ I'll take pride in that I hadn't thought: _Wow **I'm** fucking rich._ But that just might be because I'm a pragmatic person unlike Ranta. See, a hundred fish won't feed you for a lifetime if you don't know jack squat about fishing. Without my team behind me, at best, I'm a snarky henchmen for hire. I'd rather invest in making my current group stronger, we're a team. Even Ranta has a purpose. There will probably come a time when making the selfish choice would be better than an altruistic one and we'll need his vote to make it happen.

 _"So let's put off those gold just for now. You are going to get your house, and your wife too; this I promise on my honor as a Spirit."_ I rolled my eyes. Is this what it feels like to have your friends push you along for blind dates? I suppose at some point I'll have time to give it some thought. The only girls I knew so far were in my party, and dating within the group seemed like a bad idea. A nasty breakup could literally kill someone if the team cohesion fell.

Chaos followed behind Yii, raising a point, _"Yi may have some good point but I believe it could not hurt to take only some gold for now. The whole party must be exhausted. Possible suggestion of taking 1 or 2 gold coins and the rest can be retrieve later from the queen or place in the chest of the thief's hideout."_ She finished, just as Lex took the stage.  
 _"Now why don't we get a little bit from both worlds? We take some gold, and only gold, for ourselves, say, three or four pieces, and leave the armor and the rest of the gold to be found by our party on the way back. Everyone gets their mood lifted, a nice surprise on top of our survival, we get the armor and enough money that suddenly appearing with new gear (we need a new weapon) won't look suspicious."_

It looked like most people were in agreement on one thing: We take some of the gold back with us and leave the rest for that chest. As for how much, that seemed in constant flux. I flicked a gold coin in my hand and dropped it into my boot, then called it a day for hiding things. Lord Bleeding heart showed up, proud. _"And now all of you bastards have no reason NOT to help out Kate."_ He had that smug grin, fixing his glasses at the same time. _"Hope it teaches you that karma is not to be fucked with, and helping little girls is the right thing to do even if you have to bend backwards."_ What was your name again? I totally forgot. I swear on me mum it's not on purpose.

The alpaca was not impressed. _"Haa. At this rate, you'll really end up no good..."_ He said, looking over at me. Lost cause, I thought. The money bug had bit me from the moment I swiped that extra ten silver from Britney. I regret nothing. _Nothing_!  
 _"I'll just leave you with some advice. I've seen far too many people ruin themselves with money."_  
He hoofed the ground somberly, _"They start out poor, then one day they strike it rich. Inheritance, lottery, whatever. Sure, some smarter guys may be able to keep it together for a while, but everyone cracks eventually. People want your money, paranoia mounts, you spend as if you had ten times the money you actually have. Some lucky people only end up back where they started. Others end up totally broke, or in debt."_

The others grimaced to the prospect. For a dumb animal, the alpaca sure gave us a grim reminder on what reality we lived in. _"Let's not forget the huge-ass target painted on your back. Don't kid yourself about being able to hide the fact you have money; shit always has a way of leaking out. And people will kill for gold. Hell, you and Manato were killed for silver. Money should be gained gradually and properly; with time, you also build up a reputation and network. People know who you are, and know why screwing with you is a bad idea. Now? You're a bunch of newbies who got lucky. You have no idea how tempting of a target that looks."_  
With one more witful glance, Khiruki ended his thoughts. _"You wanna know some of the happy stories involving striking it rich suddenly? They are, "Couple donates lottery winnings to charity", "Lottery winner gives back to children in his community", and "Man wins millions and builds day camp for children".I don't think this world has a decent concept of charity."_

I thought back on Kate and what she'd told us. How no one stopped for the daily suffering of people. Because everyone was too busy keeping things together for themselves.

 _Has it been decided?_ Last Fang asked, snapping me from my thoughts.  
"For the most part I think." I shut the coffer, along with eight gold pieces and the rest of the pocket change. "Can you bring this and the undead warrior over to a marked place on a map?"  
Fishing around for the map brought it out quickly, and I let Elise take a glance at it.  
 _Yes. It is outside my sphere of influence, but I am confident my warriors will find this area._  
"Do you need to keep the map?"  
 _No. I remember everything, fledgling._  
"Sounds good. Also, destroy the undead when you drop it off there. I don't want to have to fight an armored one, might break the armor we could recover."  
 _It shall be done._

I walked back to the group. They'd already begun discussion among each other future plans and tactics. Yii stole the spotlight and began to detail out a defense on his crossbow plan. A snippet of it that took my attention was his discussion on his… homeworld? Whatever it was, it was clear the voices thought they weren't being overheard.

 _"…even third-class physique citizens of age 18~19, of the entire male population, learn to use advanced weapons in a military fashion. Third class physique citizen includes those with eye defects and hearing defects, including color insensitivity. These conscripts receive just 4 weeks of training before becoming competent infantrymen with heavy, full-length assault rifles - a majority anyway. I will expect none of them to be able to use bows to the same degree, though."_

 _"If you look at SKT T1 Faker, you'd know what a typical conscript of similar descent to the Japanese would look like."_ I continued to listen in, fascinated by his world. These trans-dimentional beings seem to have at least some similarities to human culture at least. Maybe they weren't information based entities? Yii continued onwards, explaining how archers tended to be physically stronger than even spearmen after years. It wasn't a good position for a girl like Yume. He even shared some sort of video showing soldiers and their weapons. The strangest thing about all this – how familiar it all looked. How everything from Yii's world seemed to make sense in my head. I remembered what a gun was, for example. Even if the concept seemed so ludicrously insane.  
 _"The efficiency of crossbows are OP in their own right, compared to arrows or even daggers, so it was just a simple suggestion put forward to make some of our less experienced crew into more effective fighters. Let's discuss this some other time in the next chapter while we are refitting our party."_ That word stuck in my head for a moment. There was something eerie about the way he said chapter. I couldn't put my finger on that uncanny feeling in the end, so I moved on. But that gave me some ideas on testing experiments of my own with the voices. They ran their own tests on me right? Turnabout is fair game.

Then he said something that chilled me straight to my core.  
 _"Manato was killed by a goblin's crossbow in the original timeline, half way through Volume 1 in the Archive. So it's a relatively early-level weapon."_

Manato… was supposed to die in the original timeline? And I didn't stop it? Fuck.  
Then something even colder hit me. Volume one. Archive. Chapters. Pre-destined.  
The archives were a history book to them!  
 _"Only in one depiction of it."_ Spectrum answered, _"In the original depiction, the bodyguard threw its blade at him. Crossbows actually only appear on well armored leaders."  
"Well yes, he died to the hobgoblin instead in the LN, but the goblin had crossbow all the same in Volume 1. He shoots it at Yume in the battle where they were killed."_  
Forgotten seemed pretty shaken by that, _"... wait. Yume dies?"  
"No, I mean where the goblins were killed near the end of volume 1. Yume is fine, there's nothing to worry about." _Yii answered back.  
 _"Whew. I was soo worried."_

I had my own thoughts shaken, but for different reasons. LN? I frowned hard and thought. I knew what an LN was. I was sure of that. I even joked earlier about it with Spectrum. But what _exactly_ was it again? Given that the archives were separated in volumes and chapters, it was probably some sort of book. For the moment, my mouth stayed shut. Didn't want to interrupt them when I'm finally doing the eavesdropping for once.  
 _"Most exiled goblins of Damroww will know how to use a crossbow as long as they can afford more than just a rusty sword and small shield. Most Crimson Moon members are much better equipped and trained than goblins anyway. Haruhiro's party in the original timeline was an exception."_

Haruhiro's party? If Manato dies in their historical archives, Haru inherits the group leadership? No way. The kid barely speaks and follows behind everyone diligently. If anything, I could see Ranta being the leader next. The guy would strong-arm everyone into following him, and they'd do it out of sheer necessity since none of them had the backbone to say no except when it was too late. Except for Mogzo. He'd probably follow just because Ranta would lead his friends to their death. They'd need someone to bail them out.  
Forgotten seemed to remember I was around _, "And should we talking about the original archive where S.B. can hear? He might grow overprotective of them if he knows, even thought he should know we have no intention of letting that happen."_  
Me? Overprotective? Please, do I look like the hero of a story or something? They're fine, we've survived plenty so far. Getting an unobstructed view into the voices was far more fascinating.  
Yii glanced around, but somehow I'd managed to go under the radar. I silently thanked the time dilation between our worlds.  
 _"I still don't know how much S.B. can hear us... aren't we sending him pre-recorded messages, so those he doesn't need to know yet get filtered?"_

Heh. Fat chance. Like someone would just conveniently filter anything. Trog and Nuclear haven't been around since I got freed by the spiders, but he's the one who figured out a way to discuss in private. Maybe something happened to him, and his filter disappeared with him? If so, the voices had nothing to hide their secrets from me anymore. Good.  
The time dilation seemed to have caught up, because Chaos noticed me. She leveled a glance on Yii, and it wasn't a friendly one. _"I was gone just a little while and what do I find? Yii Put your need-to-know words in-"_ And her voice cut out. I could tell there was more but it was gone like it'd never arrived. Fuck, Trog wasn't the key. Yii must have just been too new at this and no one showed him the ropes. I got some good info out of it, but pretty soon they'll be catching back up on all this.  
 _"Spectrum can we agree to give this info later after the party is safe? not now please... we can give this info on 4th day or even tomorrow on the 3rd day."_ Chaos requested. That got a wave of a fan and the voices turned silent.

The next plan they discussed wasn't as great – for me at least.

Lex glanced at me. _"Can't look pristine, that's suspicious as all hell."_ He agreed with the others.  
Uh oh.  
The oldest voice followed with a solid Aye. _"Getting back unhurt is going to look incredibly fishy."_  
Rag nodded, appearing as a specter like entity. _"Sorry Silas - I'm calling you Silas Bell - it sucks but it will definitely sell it better. Also, sorry about the bad timing for the introduction. But, hey! Look on the brightside, I gave you a distraction while you were being carried off by spiders!"_ Don't try and laugh this off you traitor! You try getting mauled by giant spiders and see how you fare after! They all stared me down anyhow. I sighed heavily, weary of the world.

"They… uhh, they want me to… you know. Do the thing." I mumbled out to Last Fang.  
 _I don't understand. You'll have to be more detailed or give me permission to read your thoughts._  
One of the newer voices knocked some sense into my bubbling. " _Better feel physical pain now then to feel emotional pain later S.B, we all want you healthy both physically and mentally."_ Objection! False equivalence! _"Yes I know, I contradicted my self. Oh Yeah, name's Revya."_  
Goddamnit. I was looking forward to making another giant title. Fine. Revya it is.  
I squinted back at the broodmother. "No thanks. I got a nudge about getting it over with." It'll be like ripping off a band-aid, I thought. Yep. A really painful fang-filled band-aid. I gulped out the words, "They want to do the cover-up plan." _  
Very well. I'll have my warriors attack you lightly.  
_  
Three giant murder-spiders dropped right next to me, incisors sharp and legs stretched out. Logic, accounting for about 95% of my thought process, was swiftly trampled down by sheer primal fear for my life. I did the only sensible thing: leaped backwards and drew my knife out without a second thought. Richard would have nodded at that. If I'd been more of an animal I might have even hissed. My sense of reasoning managed to beat down the invader a few moments later. Chaos flew her way over, patting my shoulder while I got myself back under check. _"It is going to be ok, we are here for you,"_ She said soothingly. As much as I hate being looked down on, it did the job oddly enough.  
"I'm calm. I'm calm…" I muttered.  
 _You fear pain. I may have a solution._ Last Fang had ordered off her minions, seeing a problem.  
"What do you suggest?"  
 _I've rendered you unconscious before. I can do it again easily enough. You won't feel the immediate pain, or the mental trauma. You'll simply wake up bloody. Satisfactory?  
"_You know what. Sure. Let's do that. What could go wrong?" _  
_  
I felt her reach into my mind and then nothing.

The first thought when I came to was pain. I sensed lacerations all across my chest and arms. Legs too. She had been thorough. Opening my eyes only revealed a red-tinted world. She hadn't spared my face either, there was definitely blood dripping down from my forehead, past my eyes and onto the forest bed. It hurt pretty fucking bad and all over too.  
"Urrrrrraahhhhhh….gggggrrr," I half growled, half groaned. The pain wasn't sharp, but it was everywhere - and constant. A grim reminder from my body that it was fragile, despite the armor. Speaking of that, a lot of the leather was torn up too, though all metal plates were accounted for. And equally damaged. I equally realized I wasn't near any more spiderwebs. The culprit wasn't even in sight anymore either, nor were any spiders. Last Fang probably carried me away from the hive.

I stood up, steadying myself. Sharp pains came up anytime my movements shoved the open wounds into the ruined leather. Walking was redefined to limping. Either I was going to waste my healing potion now, or I'd better find Mary and Manato quick. A quick item check revealed everything was in place, except for Kate's dagger which lay at my feet, covered with some sort of ichor. Spider blood likely. My shield was nearby, and sported a pretty deep gash in the wood.  
"Which way?" I grunted, snatching the dagger up and keeping it in hand. The shield went in my other, and I felt much less naked with it.

 _Walk forward._ She chittered lightly through Elise.  
"Fine." I snarled, and began to limp through the thick jungle. True to her word, not even five minutes passed before I heard rustling ahead. Then I spotted a group making a fast walk through the shrubs. They were looking in every direction, on edge. I felt tension unknot itself across my body.

Manato and Mogzo stopped walking, the first to spot me. There was some confusion on their face, but it only lasted a fraction of a second before the priest rushed over to my side. The rest of the party quickly followed with shouts.  
"SOBATO!" Yume practically screeched, sprinting down.  
"He's alive?!" Ranta sputtered, clearly disbelieving his eyes. When they got closer, my wounds got the attention next. Even yume stopped her attempted hug mid-way once she noticed the blood. Instead she recoiled in horror, taking a few steps back. "He's wounded!" Manato shouted, turning to Mary.  
She gave me a critical glance, I couldn't tell exactly the details due to my fuzzy sight. It felt like her resolve was being tested. "Sit." She told me after a moment of hesitation.  
I kneeled down slowly, trying to minimize the pain. She reached out and I felt hands scan through the damages, quickly. Then she clamped back shut, and the girl I'd known came back with a slight shake. "H-he's fine. We need to move back to safety and meditate." Manato looked at the girl with pleading eyes, but it was Ranta that beat him to the punch.  
"Are you fucking insane bitch?! Look at him! He's gonna turn into an undead any moment now and you don't want to heal him?!"  
Mary didn't answer for a moment, stripping down the last of her bandages and applying them over the wounds. Once done, she stood tall, gazing down on Ranta from her full height. "Yes. There's no injuries that require immediate attention."

Manato frowned. "I don't like this. Sobato, can you walk?"  
"I've been walking for the past few hours," I lied. "Was already resolved to walk my way back into the town. You guys are a welcome surprise."  
Our priest nodded, taking command. "Haru, help me carry him. Mogzo, take the vanguard. We need to get out of here quickly." I felt a giant hand reach to my side and lift me up. Mogzo had a worried expression on his face, and I noticed with a smile he'd also been carrying my spear on his back. Least I hadn't lost that.

Ranta stopped the group then, "You're going to take her side on this?! You know she's got enough juice for one more heal. Probably even two! What the fuck, that bitch is holding out on us!"  
Mary said nothing, her eyes had gone ice cold. The priest on my side, already lifting me up, answered his peace. "She knows she needs to save it. We can discuss this later Ranta."  
"Save it?! Save it?! She doesn't heal, she doesn't fight, she doesn't do anything but stand behind and wait for us to kill shit for her. She even demanded you stop fighting! What the hell are we doing to do if two people stand around doing nothing?!"  
"Ranta, we'll talk later." Manato said calmly but there was a certain non-negotiable chill to those words. He was angry. A cold fury. I spoke out then, trying to keep things going. "I'll be fine Ranta. Group takes priority." I took a look at Mary. Resolute. Silent. She gave me a glance, but I only saw an iron defense inside.  
"Whatever. I don't even care anymore." Ranta shrugged, strapping his blade and turning around to walk.  
"Just telling it like it is, not like you all would listen to me anyhow. That bitch is an outsider, but I'm no different."

We force walked for a solid half hour, before finding a spot that looked defendable. "This place is good." Manato nodded at the stream. "We can set up camp here. Yume, Haru, scout around us like normal."  
The two nodded and immediately disappeared into the shrubbery. The moment that was done, Manato immediately sat down in meditation. Eyes shut and a focused guise stretched on his face. Mary followed suit, giving a glance at Mogzo who only nodded back.

As for me, I sat down with my back to a tree and rested for a moment. What a fucking day.  
I noticed Ranta was pacing around, sulking. Every few moments he would give me a glance. It was filled with anything from pity, to horror, but mostly guilt. I didn't really understand it. Eventually, he made his way over and sat down next to me.  
"So." He started. "What happened exactly."  
"Got abducted by giant spiders, probably planned to make a meal out of me." I shrugged.  
"I know that already! I was there remember? I mean what happened after we lost sight of you! Obviously!"  
"Had my dagger. Saw a chance to escape. Got away. Listen Ranta, it's not exactly a great memory, and I don't want to think about it right now. Or ever."

He was silent for a while. "S-sorry." He said quietly.  
"For what?"  
"… When you got taken, everyone was panicking and running after you. And… I got sc-" He stopped. Thinking. "It was obvious running after a bunch of giant spiders was a dumb idea. We can't possibly take on giant spiders but maybe someone back in town could, if we all paid everything we had…" He thought for a moment more. "You know what, I'm not sorry!"  
He stood up, glaring down at me. "You got lucky Sobato! Real lucky! How was I supposed to know you were still alive?! No way! No one could! It's not my fault, I did what I had to." The dread knight stared me down, then turned and walked away quickly. Mogzo and Shiharou had overheard everything, but neither said a word. Mogzo just remained at the ready.

No one talked for a good quarter hour and I dozed painfully off to sleep. When I woke up, it was because voices were mumbling around me. I felt a hand touch my face. Then the familiar sensation of being healed. Goddamn did it feel good. Like laying down on a cold day in the middle of a sunbeam. At first, there was still pain. But slowly, it disappeared all around beaten by a warmth. The wounds were knit shut. I opened my eyes.

"How are you feeling Sobato?" Manato asked me.  
"Alive." I deadpanned, standing back up. "And it's Silas Bell. That's my name."  
It also hadn't felt right, but much closer to what I was looking for. It would do for now. Manato looked puzzled for a moment, before nodding. "All right Silas." Mr. Heng had told me they did know my real name – but I was better off not knowing for some reason. At this point, I had three names already so that was plenty enough.  
"Spear?" I requested, arm outstretched. Mogzo handed it to me without word. Holding onto the familiar weight set me at ease. I gave a deep sigh.  
"Right. I'm ready." I declared to the group, a sort of conclusion implied.

Our leader brought himself up, "We're heading back to town now. We need to recover."  
And that's when Ranta flared, "What about the loot we left behind! My vice! You told me we could pick it up after we saved Soba-" He looked at me quickly, "Silas. Whatever. We killed like, an army of goblins behind us and we didn't stop to grab anything! It's all nice and awesome that we rescued Silas, but we gotta make money too. Don't fucking forget that, we're broke."  
Manato grimaced, then turned to me. I shrugged back, "I'm alive and healed up. No point in leaving anything behind just to get to town faster."  
"But what if the spiders come back?" Haru asked from the side, "Aren't you scared?"

Oh kid, if you knew the half of it. Two days into my new job and I've met a retired general in hiding of the deathless king himself. Some start. Wonder if I'll meet the human king on day three and go on a quest to save the world for day four.  
"It carried me pretty far off, I think we stumbled on something special by accident when we ran into that hive. Their territory is hours away from here."

With that, the group settled and backtracked cautiously through the forest. Like before, it was a boring treck – but this time none of us let our guard down. They'd asked me about what happened and how I escaped. I told them the same thing I told Ranta. They got the memo real quick and dropped the subject. On their side, it turned out the group had killed a total of three goblins, although they fought a lot more than that – They'd just let the goblins run away if they tried. It seemed like that was more likely to happen too, the goblins in the forest did not want to pick a fight with the crimson moon. Once they found out the group wasn't after blood, they'd scramble away except for a few here and there that were determined to kill the humans.

Overall loot, two wolf fangs, a tiny gem, twelve capas with holes punched into them. Ranta had gone around butchering the corpses. At first, when I was dragged up into the trees, they chased after me with no formation and no cohesion. Lost sight within minutes. Then maybe a half hour of running they ran into three goblins who immediately attacked. Mogzo took a beating, and so did Haru. If it weren't for Manato beating down two goblins at the same time and holding them off, the others couldn't have put a killing blow on the isolated one. Once their companion had died, the other two became enraged and fought even more, stabbing Manato badly. Ranta dove in to save their priest and it worked out fine. Once the second goblin was killed, the third ran away. Mary hadn't lifted a finger to save Manato, and she chose to cast the renew spell on Mogzo. After that, she'd scolded Manato for his actions badly.

Manato listened. Or at least, as he told me, "You were the one that vouched for her Silas. You've always been someone I could rely on, you know? Always knew a lot more about everything then any of us. I thought: If you'd seen something in her, then there must be. Had to be. I trusted her."

He'd backed off and the next engagement spent it in the rear line flinching the entire time. "It was hard," He told me on the hike. "I wanted to jump in, I saw plenty of places I could have stopped a hit or got an attack in. But Mary didn't let me. So instead, I studied just what she was doing. That gave me a clearer picture." He sighed, "You were right again. She's on a different league then us. Ranta and the others didn't understand it at first. I still think Ranta doesn't, but Haru, Mogzo and Yume at least get the picture when I explained it to them."  
We both looked over to the priest a few members in front of us. Everyone else was talking to their neighbors, but she remained silent. Keeping a sharp eye out for trouble.

"She was always keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Calculating if our team would be able to kill an enemy or if she needed to heal someone. I understood her style quickly enough. It's frustrating. But it's safer. The entire time she had her hands on that potion you gave her. Like she constantly was thinking to use it. Glad she didn't. She's… not easy to work with and was cold to everyone. But she didn't abandon us either. The rest of them got it together, like she gambled they would. Ranta complained incessantly about everything, but they fought smarter bit by bit. I was holding them back by helping."

That's Manto all right. Always seeing the best in people. "Told you I had good instincts." I said smugly.  
"I know how to pick'em. If I'd died, she'd be a good second-in-command to replace me."  
I saw Mary flinch ahead and realized she might have been listening in on our discussion, despite the babble around her. Manato on his part seemed to pale a bit. "Silas." He said with an edge, "You know, it's funny how easily we took you for granted. We lead this outfit together remember? Without you, I felt _weak_. We felt _weak_. So don't go around saying stuff like you're replaceable by anyone." He let that sink for a moment. "I know you're the kind of person to plan for any situation. Bookstore, potions, bandages, you study everything and everyone around you. You've got a plan for everything no matter how hard of a choice might be. But I don't want to hear you plan for _this_. Not like it's just another thing that could go wrong."  
"Is that an order?" I asked.  
"It is."  
"…. Then I'll follow it captain." I answered easily enough. That seemed to relax him. Not to mention the group had gone quiet near the end of our discussion.

Returning home wasn't eventful either. We sold the profits for a total of two silver and forty five capas. Divided eight way, that was about 30 capas for each of us. I hadn't killed any of these, so I protested getting money but the look the party gave me shut me up. It was more symbolic come to think of it. It was the party's effort and they _needed_ me to know I was still a member. That only made me feel guiltier and guiltier about the gold coin in my boot. Clearly S.B. actually stands for Scum Bag. **  
**  
Mary took her share politely, thanked the group, and walked off to her side of the town without another word. She didn't say anything about meeting up again tomorrow, but I didn't have a doubt in my head she'd be at our inn, seven in the morning sharp. Thirty capas wasn't much, but it was enough for a few day's worth of food. A good start.

I handed off my gear to the blacksmith shop where I'd got a promise of it being fixed by tomorrow morning. The man simply raised an eyebrow when I walked in.  
"You again?"  
"Yep. Ran into something nasty."  
"You pay good money, so on one hand I wouldn't mind you arriving each night here. On the other hand, that's a lot of work to put in. Adventurers need their gear fixed once every few weeks. Try not to make this a habit."  
"Yessir." I answered dutifully, paying the dues and walking out with just the shirt on my back. And pants of course. Comfortable.

We'd agreed to keep the details hushed, so the tavern was skipped for tonight while we ate dinner and promptly hit the sack after cleaning up. I thought about the future. And the spider hanging around my ceiling. Watching my every move.


	15. Chapter 15

The best feeling in the world is knowing that you're warm when it's cold outside. And early mornings in Altana were _chilly._ That didn't stop me from keeping to my new routine. After conditioning with Mogzo, armor maintenance and checking over our weapons, I'd eat and set out for a morning jog. Mogzo would remain behind, cooking breakfast for the rest of the team. Arbit had supplied me with the recipe for Pizza, which Mogzo took to like suger and cake. The giant was so worked up about it, he almost made it for breakfast. (Arbit also gave me a crossbow design, but I had no idea how to even approach that. I'm no blacksmith.)  
Unlike my armor, his weighed a lot more so hiking through the forests was a workout on itself, hence why he got a skip with my blessing. Around the second day after our triumphant return from Last Fang, I suggested we do sparring training with anyone who wanted it and that quickly became part of our new routine. The warmups were good, got the blood flowing. I tried to drag other people into it, but only Ranta bit the bullet.

I remembered Khiruki talking to me about him the other night. _"_ _So I'll say something about Ranta."_ The Alpaca munched out. _"_ _First, is that he is not stupid. Second, is that he is not oblivious. He can read the atmosphere, he is good at reading people and their intentions, and he is actually pretty insightful. Honestly, if I were to characterize him with stats, he'd have decent strength, intelligence, and wisdom, but utter shit for charisma. At the end of the day, he is extremely blunt and his manner of speaking grates on people."_  
"You sure about all that? He seems more like a kid that just does whatever happens to be on his mind at the time. No deeper thoughts on what happens next. We're talking about a guy who picked his class _because it sounded cool_."  
The voice in my head seemed to shrug at that, _"_ _Before shitting too much on Ranta, just remember that he actually does know what he is doing. When Haruhito is leader, Mary is the obvious nice cop support, but Ranta is also pretty important to the party dynamics by kicking Haruhito in the ass when needed."_  
"I get in the alternate timeline, Haru was the leader of this little outfit. I don't quite belive it really, I'm pretty sure I'd have taken over after Manato. But Mary being the 'nice' cop? Now you're yanking my chain here. She's as good as Ranta is on getting people to like her. I don't know if she tries as hard, Ranta just effortlessly pisses people off."  
 _"_ _He knows he irritates the shit out of people. He just does it anyways because he's is trying to keep genuine to himself. When speaking with Ranta at least, his inner voice matches his outside. So in summary, Ranta: Annoying and loud, not stupid."_  
"Ah. Gotcha." Fine. Be true to thyself first. Well, a little discipline won't be amiss. Lex did tell me dealing with Ranta might be done by beating him in a fight without trying any power plays. I'd have to cross my fingers I'd win. Losing would probably set me back quite a bit.  
So I did just that the next day. I challenged him to join the sparring and hoped for the best.

And I thrashed him _good_. He put up a fight, but once I figured out how to defend against Anger Thrust, he was quickly outmaneuvered and put down. I remember the final blow of that fight too. I'd battered his sword aside with my shield, opening up his side, then slammed my spear into his side using the prongs like a hammer. I could feel a rib break. He went down immediately, exhaling heavily and grunting in pain. Manato was at his side (also immediately), casing cure.  
"Good fight." I said emotionless. Trying to keep as much bias out of my voice as possible.  
"FUCK THAT HURT!" He screamed, getting up after the cure, "What the hell! That was a cheap blow! Didn't count!"  
I shrugged at that. "Yeah, it was a cheap blow wasn't it? Hammer blow to the side when you've got no defense there, good as dead." I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "Let's fix that, I know you've got the potential to do better."  
The rest of the sparring time was dedicated to instilling some discipline in Ranta. He was rather… quick to learn I noticed. By the end of that mini-training session, he at least didn't charge wildly at me anymore.

The thing about my morning "jogs" was that I'd never jog at all. Instead, I'd spend the time walking around the merchants road, soaking in the wares and haggling around me. I learned a bit about possible upgrades, things to get, and general true price of the goods. I still don't think I'm half as good as Ranta is when it comes to bargaining. One of the more interesting discussion was with the enchantment shop. There really was something for everything.

Oddly enough, enchantments for weapon and armor was a specialty part of the shop, they had an addition inside the local blacksmith where they'd work with him directly. The shop in the merchant's section… Let me give a couple examples: Comfortable pillow enchantment, Glimmering jewelry enchantment, lightstones, Water-purifier, Water-repelling sigils, and so forth.  
Ergo, it was all creature comforts. Which made for **great** gifts. Hell, I was sorely tempted to get that pillow enchantment and weave it over my bag. This shop was certainly something to keep track of. Creature comforts were terribly important! Terribly! Especially that comfortable bedding sheet enchantment. I _want_ it. Thinking about no more itchy hay, I might have just shelled out my gold piece right there and then. Of course I didn't, but mind you it was tempting. The enchantment itself was pretty cheap considering, two silver.

Talking to the blacksmith gave me a better idea of what the militant side of enchantment could do. Short answer – practically anything, if it was within reason. Permanent effects were the hallmark of course, affectionately referred to as "Bind and forget." You'd have them applied, and then never bother thinking about them again during combat. They'd passively assist. Much more expensive enchantments did something. That could be anything from igniting the tip of your weapon on fire to having your weapon become intelligent permanently. Somehow, I'm not surprised there's such a thing as a talking sword in this world. You gotta have a magic sword. Most of those simple enchantments would cost quite a bit, anywhere from five silver to fifteen. Active enchantments were on a whole other level, often costing as much as twenty or more silver. While I was there, I got a new knife for a silver piece. Was very good quality. Much better then Kate's dagger. Talking about that girl, she was next. I hid my new dagger deep in my bag and strolled out.

The next destination was the slums to discuss information with a certain informant. Kate had been hard to find originally. Both Yi, Spectrum, Lord Bleeding Heart and a few others wanted me to start working on figuring out House Tyule. And that included getting that ring identified. All which pointed back to getting someone from the underground to assist. Lex and Spectrum absolutely didn't want a thing to do with that girl, though Spectrum seemed to change her mind later on.  
 _"_ _For your information, when Kate first came to Grimgal, she really was innocent enough to have trusted Raghill without a second thought."_ Yi told me before I started my search _. "I don't think she had a less-than-good inner personality to begin with, and she wanted to spare you and Manato in the... first time around, so we know she still values other peoples' lives even after one year of all hells living here."_  
I thought about that girl. She looked so young, it was jarring when she spoke her real mind. Kate might have grown to be an amazingly bright and clever person, had she not met Raghill at precisely the worst time. Who was the person she was supposed to be, had Grimgal not screwed her? Yi agreed mostly, _"_ _We just have to show her how we can be different from people like Raghill. For some reason I don't think that would be too difficult to prove; we have so many days ahead of us to do just that."_ He seemed convinced, thinking further. _"_ _At the very least, Kate came here as a good person. That much I am very certain."_  
I'd informed Manato on my choice and plan, and he was all for it. He even supplied me with two silver, which considering his funds – was actually a much larger percent then I was putting in. He also wanted to join in on finding her. That said, he never got to meet her till later.

Kate was nowhere to be found. It wasn't until the third day that I'd seen her, somewhere _completely_ different then the spot she'd told me a week ago. I suppose the situation for her has been… volatile. I stumbled on her really, by sheer luck, precisely when I wasn't looking for her. While walking through a shortcut to the merchants road through the dim alleyways, I spotted the outline of one tiny girl. Sitting with her back to a wall munching on what was left of a piece of bread. The moment she heard the clanking of my armor her demeanor changed to that of a frightened cat. Alert, she jumped up and glanced around for the source of the noise wildly. Didn't have to look hard of course, I wasn't exactly subtle considering I was strolling directly towards her. Hindsight being twenty twenty, I should have sheathed my spear and shield because the very next moment after she recognized me, she bolted away.

"Wait! I'm not here to attack you Kate!" I barked out after her, but the girl had zero confidence and just kept running. "Ahhhhh, fuck me!" I cursed under my breath and sprinted after the tiny body, sheathing my spear on the way. I spent a week learning how to run away from a rabid wanna-be dog, had longer legs and more to the point – I was also healthy and well fed. It was no contest. Not to discredit the girl however. Kate seemed to know exactly what was going to happen and had made up her mind climbing over obstacles I wouldn't be able to keep up with, and tossing anything that might slow me down in the meantime. I think her ultimate gameplan was to climb on a low enough roof if she managed to jump over enough crates.

A sound plan. She only wore what was basically a simple one-piece dress with a cloak. Very light. As for me… not so much. But there was a flaw in her plan: Not enough obstacles in reach to make for much of a challenge. In less than a minute I already had a hand over her arm.

With a yank, I lifted the girl up in the air and off her feet, killing her momentum. When I dropped her back on her feet next, she immediately tried to draw my dagger off my belt. Little devil! My shield hand let go of my defense and grabbed the little rascal firmly before she could try making a scene of things.  
"Calm down! I'm not here to pick a fight with you all right?"  
She froze for a moment, glancing me over. I spoke again, "I'm here to talk, got a job for you. So chill for a moment, okay? Okay."  
Her eyes bored into my own for a moment, narrowed suspiciously. "What do you want?" She asked. Polite words, opposite tone.  
"Information on House Tyule." I answered straightforwardly.  
"What's in it for me?"  
"Your dagger, but that's something I owe you back already. I'll be paying you for information in money."

The dagger got her attention again, she stared down at it on my belt, a very unhappy look on her face. "To be honest," I muttered, "Didn't really like the thought of taking this from you originally. But I had my own life to worry about. Did a lot of work for me, your dagger. Kept it in good shape, like you did."  
"Gloat some more, bastard." She snarled.  
"Whoa, whoa I think we've got some misunderstanding going on here. I borrowed your dagger. Now, I've got enough money to buy my own, so I'll return it to you. Pro-bono."  
"Wha-…" Kate seemed to do a doubletake, and scowled at me further in silence.

One of my hands let her arm go and reached for the dagger. She flinched away but was clearly torn between conflicting thoughts. Damn, it was simply eerie to see a young girl like her be so _feral_. At her age, I'd have thought she'd be playing around in sunny fields of sunflowers making vine necklaces and laughing out bubbles or something. Instead, the girl in front of me was the utter opposite, like a cold-blooded delinquent had possessed the girl. I drew out her dagger, flipped the handle of the blade deftly, wrapping my leather gloves around the bladed end to stop its spin. Then I held it out to her.  
She took a few seconds, trying to see where the trick was. A moment later, the dagger was snatched out of my hands. I let her go completely after that. She studied her old weapon curiously, almost with awe. I don't think Kate ever expected to hold that particular knife again.

"You fixed the handle." She said. It was not a question. I don't remember doing that, but I did drop the armor over at the blacksmith a few days ago. Must have not removed the dagger from its home on the belt.  
"I take care of my gear. One of the things I learned." I answered, going along with the flow. While I had paid attention to keeping the dagger polished, oiled and maintained, I hadn't thought of replacing the leather hilt with a repaired version.  
"What did you want to know about the Tyule's?" She asked, all business again. All right here goes. I've been planning this one for some time. Got to get it right. My hands reached out for my pouch and emptied eight silver onto my hand. I let her get a good look.

"I've saved enough money so far. Normally, I'd use this to train a skill or continue saving up to buy my contract. Instead, I'll delay it. Kate, are you interested in becoming a crimson moon trainee again?"  
Kate looked like a deer in the headlights. She couldn't pry her eyes off the money in front of her.  
"Well?" I asked, curling my hand over the silver and returning it to the pouch. The tiny but ruthless little girl nodded slowly, shellshocked. "Y-yes."

"We recovered a map from an undead thief my team defeated. The undead had a ring on him as well that we traced back to house Tyule. The map might be for a chest the thief's kept. My group's planning on exploring this out in a few more days. I want information on the house, where we can get this ring identified without problems – or if we should just return the ring amicably, and see if you can dig up anything on this chest. Get that all done and I've got a spot for you on my unofficial clan if you're interested in it after your training's up." I'd have said group, but at this point we've long since made the group big enough to be our own clan.  
Kate's eyes frowned, "I…You ….shouldn't have told me all this!" She said, perplexed about something.  
"Because you can sell it off to someone else? I know what I'm doing." I answered firmly back. "You won't sell us out because I'm offering a deal you won't find anywhere else. I know I'm talking to a future teammate – and even if you don't join the clan, you'll be a comrade among the Crimson Moon. You know there's not a lot of us and we all know each other's names and rep. You don't want to go into that world with the reputation of having turned already on another 'moon member."

She was mulling it over in hear head. I could see the gears turning, looking at this situation with those strange eyes that were way too old for that child. Maybe I got swept up in the moment, but my hand took her's and dropped that leather pouch. I closed her hand over it.

The girl looked confused for a moment, "You're giving it in advance?" Shit I am. What the fuck was I doing? A fool and his money, goddamn myself.  
"I don't know about what you do to stay alive out here, but I know I don't eat just bread when I go home. And I'm pretty sure given the chance you'll try to do something with your life too. You're not going to throw this away." I knew she was a smart girl obviously, hell she probably had more brains then some of our party members – won't mention names.  
"…Yes, I just, you, just - give me some time … to think." It was like watching her worldview change. I sat down silently, waiting and fuming at myself for having gotten so sentimental. While she held onto that pouch looking unsteady on her feet. The cynical part of me thought she'd played my heartstrings and got me to give her the bag. That she'd grin all of a sudden, say "Ha! Gotcha!" Stab my calf and run off. I tried hard to keep that off my face.

She didn't turn on me. Instead, she fidgeted, taking out the silver and counting it out as if it was going to disappear any moment now. After a few minutes of staring and thought she glanced back.  
"Why are you doing this for me?" She said at last. "You've got every reason not to. There's better people that k-know more than I d-do. They c-could do a better job." She was sniffing in between sentences, but equally getting louder. Yelling at me almost. "I tried to s-steal from y-you! I said h-horrible things to your f-f-friend! Do you even c-c-are?! This isn't what you're s-supposed to d-do!" Kate was breaking down a bit at the end there. She looked utterly confused about everything.  
"Hmmm." I thought. She had a point. It could have been simple to find someone else. There's plenty of underhanded connections to go around, and probably with good reliable reputation. Instead, I went to bank on the dark horse of the race here. Not even a good horse mind you. There was nothing about Kate that said she'd make a good Crimson Moon member other than unnervingly brutal thinking for a little girl her age and deceptively good crocodile tears. Hell, having her on the party might just overboard us. We would probably need to split up into smaller and more mobile teams. Damn you voices! You're making me into a bleeding heart here. I thought a moment on a good answer. An answer she'd understand.

I shrugged. "You know, if there's people like Raghill out there. Then there must be people that are his opposite right? I'm probably not that, but I like the thought of knowing I'm closer to that side then his." I drummed my knees, "So… I'm pretty sure I'm just doing this because it makes me feel better about myself, knowing I did something. So really, selfish reasons." I stopped for a moment. No, that wasn't quite all of it. So I looked back up, and met her eyes.  
"I wanted to see you happy." I finished flatly.  
"…." Her eyes went red and puffy at that. She took a stumbling backstep with a squeak, like I'd stabbed her chest. "I-I d-don't u-u-understand." She sniffed loudly. "You just planned on p-payin…" She didn't finish the sentence, rubbing her eyes furiously while hiccups took over her mouth and stopped her from saying a single coherent word. She swayed like a leaf, fists balled up wiping her eyes frantically. As if that would stop anything.

The indomitable ruthless little girl stood in the middle of the alleyway, and broke down sobbing.

You don't leave anyone crying like that. Especially when she's got a razor sharp dagger clenched at the hilt right by her eye. I stood up, and scooped her up. She flinched at first, but not fast enough to escape the hug. A light struggle, then she planted her face firmly on my chest and wailed. I heard the metallic tink of her discarded dagger hitting to the ground.

There wasn't a speck of red on my eyes. Trust me. The world was just blurry, temporarily, because I had allergies going.

It'd be half an hour before I got back on track after. I brought her out of the slums, and treated her to a real breakfast. When I handed her the food, she gave me a hard searching look. It lasted for a moment, as if she was deciding something, running through the possible scenarios. Then, the moment past and the look was gone. That would be the last time I saw Kate glare at me with suspicion.

My feet carried me through the merchant's district, on the way back to the inn before seven. Like clockwork, I'd run into Mary every single time which would signal the end of my jog. The only time I've been late was after my first meeting with Kate - I'd returned to the inn and found the rest of the group idling around waiting for me to show up. I had no good excuses.  
"Morning," I waved, settling to match her pace to my right.  
"Good morning." She answered curtly. That makes it two days in a row she'd said that. Progress, progress! Before it was just a lukewarm glance. Which is already better than the cold glances she shot at the party members, so I suppose I must have had a leg up already.

Next up, strategy meet. After day one, it was abundantly clear small talk would get me absolutely nowhere, and fast. Talking to Mary felt like talking to Shiharou - except with Mary there's definitely a knowledge of someone intelligent hiding behind that stone wall. Whereas our mage had just crippling social anxiety. Talking about new tactics and possible strategies was much more effective at getting an answer out of her. Half the time, she'd give me something insightful I could use. The other half... Well, if she said "I see." That meant I wasn't going to get anything out of her anymore. "Perhaps." "I don't know." And "Why are you asking me?" are also code-words for end of discussion.

There could be a whole book on how to discuss with Mary. It's fascinating in a way. I'd walk her over to the inn each morning, like an escort, and try to dig for more. That'd be the only time in the day I'd be able to talk to her one on one so I had to make the best of it. Every time we returned from the slog of the day, she'd take her share of the loot and then promptly leave. In the middle of the job, she'd keep discussion to a minimum.

Manato had invited her over to eat once at the end of the day over the past week. Once. She coldly rejected that, politely, then left a little faster than normal. As for day by day, she never made much effort to be liked by anyone. It was getting bad enough that by the third day, I had to drag the group to speak to her old teammate. That's where we got to the bottom of things and really figured out who she was and where she came from.

After that, I resolved to make her smile at least once in my life before I kicked it. If only because I liked to take on impossible challenges.  
See, I think there are two possible reasons why Mary is deliberately trying to make us dislike her. And yes – I'm certain it's deliberate. Or at least, she's got some block in her head that won't let anyone close the distance to her. The first theory is that she doesn't ever want anyone to over-depend on her again. If she keeps people at bay, then they'll only expect the minimum from her. The second theory is that she doesn't _want_ another group. After losing her original group, she might feel like it was a second betrayal to get close to another group, a sort of insult that her original group was replaceable if you will. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works in Grimgal. Crimson moon members were expected to fight, and no other jobs would be offered to outsiders like our kin. Hence why she would float from group to group, haunted by her past and getting more desperate as her old savings dwindled further.

So. How does one tackle this problem given those two glaring opponents? Survivors guilt was a bitch to deal with. I still had no fucking idea how I'd do that, which is what made her so fascinating. It's like a jigsaw social puzzle, where solving it was paramount to our success as a team. Although I wasn't short on time either. Not to mention because I'd been the one to vouch for her, the group saw her in this strange shadow. She was an outsider yes – but she was **my** outsider to them. Worse, she saw herself the same way. As a hireling almost. For the rest of the group, it was expected that I'd be responsible for her and confront any problem the group had indirectly. For now, I'd play the part. But that had to change at some point.

"Say Mary," I asked, a goal for today. "Let's talk about group dynamics for a bit."  
She said nothing, which in Mary speak is the equivalent of "I'm listening," and "Go on."  
"In this group, do you agree that Manato is the leader, and I'm the dashing second in command?"  
"Yes. That's clear enough you're one of our leaders, and please refrain from complimenting yourself so shamelessly." She answered easily, not breaking stride. Here's where Mary speak comes in handy. She said **our** leaders – which means after seven days of working with us, she considers herself a part of the team. That was quite different from day two and three where things were muddy.  
"Ouch, that hurts me deep. Right in my heart. So, people trust my orders right?"  
"… Yes. What are you getting at?"  
She shot me a glance, which looked neutral on the surface.

"If I gave an order, it's only natural I'd be doing so for the better of the group yes? And following it would be the right thing to do."  
"I suppose." She answered carefully, trying to see where I was going with this.  
"Good. Then for the moral of the team, I order you to give one compliment to Yume sometime today."  
She scowled at that. Something fierce. But she didn't say no either. See the hallmark of Mary speak is this: Assume that Mary will always reject anything she wishes to reject, even slightly – without mincing any words. Thus, anything she doesn't explicitly reject, means it's been approved! And second, whenever she agrees to something, she sticks by it unerringly as promised. I noosed another win for team S.B.  
Sometimes I wondered if maybe she felt like she wasn't allowed to make friends anymore, and me ordering her to do so was a convenient way to bypass that block.

We reached the inn without further discussion, my plans having been laid for today. One step at a time, I was going to make her be accepted by the team. Was this the best plan forward? Probably not. But it certainly wasn't the worst plan forward.

The team stood assembled and ready, waiting for us at the gate.  
"We're set." I greeted Manato warmly enough. He nodded at us, and turned back to the table, mission on hand.  
"Today we'll head out in direction of the Tyule chest. According to Silas, there's good chances it's been ransacked already months before we even stumbled on the map, but we've got a mission to gather Shrino mushrooms for the alchemist guild – and the chest is in the same general area. It's considered a low level mission. So, only the new crimson moon members would participate in that."  
Manato over the last few days had specialized on his lead. If I was the combat officer, he was mission command. Each day he'd plot out things for us to do, milestones to reach, places to explore, and so forth. He was the brains, and I'd be the muscle. "Other more developed teams think it's beneath them, and no regular civilians would dare go a few hours into the forest." He drew out his own detailed map of the forest and the thief's map to compare. The diligent priest had already plotted the safest way forward to the chest, I noticed. As expected. "Renji's team has rejected the mission, they're already digging into the siren mines. So only our team is available to complete this."  
Ranta practically burst with pride. "That's right! We're the only ones that can do it! So obviously they should be paying us what we're _really_ owed. And they will - ALL THANKS TO ME. You're talking to Ranta - the greatest negotiator in the world! Getting the saps to pay more was a cakewalk for someone like me."

Manato chuckled, "More like they paid extra to get you to leave. But Ranta's right. We're getting a bit extra on this job. The payment will be four silver per person if we can recover enough mushrooms, our best job yet. Now, if we swing by the west side, we'll be able to cross the chest's location on our way north then once we're past we can reach the caves where the mushroom grows. Even if the chest has nothing, we'll still be getting a payday from this."

The group quickly agreed and we set off without more discussion. Four silver was a hell of a motivator. The team moral was flying as high as it could.  
Lately, we've walked in pairs forward, at my request. Usually Manato and I would be up front, and the rest of the order is shuffled around. Why you ask? Because I'm messing with things in the background of course. I'm getting Mary to be friendly with Yume and Mogzo, who I suspect will have the most success getting past those guarded walls of hers. Each day they've alternated walking at her side. She probably suspects I'm up to something – but let's be honest here: I'm _always_ up to something. Obviously, I've briefed them both already. Mogzo was easy, he just nodded at my request and that was that. I think at this point I could order him to jump off a cliff for me and he'd trust it was all part of some plan. Yume, I bribed with praise and headpats. Actually I was planning on spending capas and buying jewelry as a gift to get her cooperation, but turned out to be much simpler. But am I complaining? Ha!  
Thus far the operation hasn't seen much change for either operatives but we all knew it was the long game we were playing.

There was one day when I swapped the order up, and walked next to Ranta of all people. In the back line.  
He glanced at me, shrugged and packed his gear while I marched at his side. I had a mission to accomplish here.  
"Hey, Ranta." I told him.  
"What do ya want?"  
"Just wanted to tell you, I appreciate what you add to the team you know?"  
"… huh?" He seemed genuinely bewildered. Then recovered immediately. "W-well of course you do! I'm the one holding the team together! You guys wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for me!"  
"Yes, yes, we'd be trembling in our boots. Just don't die on us. We're all in this together. You're annoying as shit, but we're still friends. We've got each other's back."  
He nodded somberly and looked at the ground, with a guilty glance.

I didn't talk much more with him after that, but I did notice his steps were more enthusiastic that day. Haru and Yume walked ahead of me, and seemed quieter after that as if I'd scolded them personally. Ranta would still be annoying as all hell throughout the week, so I'm not sure if that did anything or not. But that particular day he was pretty aggressive against our enemies, so it worked out fine.

 _I'll clear the way to the chest. You should reach this safely._

Last Fang whispered in my mind. I stole a quick glance at the recesses in my armor, finding the black spot where a highly venomous spider lay in wait. It was almost always just as creepy as ever. I don't think I'll ever get used to it yet, but the pragmatic part of me said it was out of the question to give it up. Last Fang had made this week incredibly safe, without coddling us either. At first she fed me information on where goblins were, their numbers, movements, and so forth. Any ambushes were prevented hours before.

That didn't last long. After our group got it together, she stopped feeding me information, leaving me to fend for myself. Her plan hadn't changed however - she just didn't inform me anymore, letting the group stumble around as we learned. Every now and then she'd give me a tidbit of advice or a morsel of information and how to spot danger for myself.

By the sixth day, she didn't whisper in my mind even once. I almost thought she'd just stopped watching over, but asking her about it yesterday night proved the opposite.  
 _I can do many things at the same time, fledgling. I am not limited to one focus at a time._  
"So, no advice today, because we'd done it all right?"  
 _For the most part. There was a hobgoblin your pack almost walked into, it's unlikely to have been a difficult fight. The hobgoblin was unarmored, I saw no reason to warn you.  
_  
She was right. Under Manato's lead and my battle orders, the team had no problems getting things together. Goblins melted under our attacks. Haru proved to be the best out of us all, so long as we kept the monsters facing us, his backstab would make quick work of anything. It seemed to deal major damage. That said, it wasn't a one hit knockout either, and would draw the target's attention. Usually, that's when either Ranta or Yume would dive in, deal a bit of damage and back off leaving the enemy stunned at who to target. Mogzo and I would be there in a flash, back to our old tricks. This rotation seemed to work fairly well. A bit of flexibility here and there and you had a winning team.

We'd just managed to clear the walls of the city, entering the dirt trail leading into the forest. It'd been a while since we took this route. After the first day in the forest, we'd plowed our way into the ruins instead where we'd find goblins lurking by every corner in the old town. Much more profitable. Although, we always took a short detour through a specific part of the forest so that Yume could go make friends with that wolf.

Yes. She had a wolf she was courting. I'm not even joking on that one. And no – not in _that_ way, get your mind out of the gutter. Our daily routine had us cross through the forest early on, making a slight hour long detour deeper into the forest before we reached the old town. Although this part of the hike was for the benefit of only one person in the group, none of us made a fuss about it. We knew we were close when the ground would become rocky and the small cave would be visible.

One giant white wolf would walk out calmly and gaze at the assembled group. I sat down on my trusty rock and twiddled my thumbs. Usually it took all of five minutes each day. The rest of the team equally gave the wolf a wide berth, except for Yume. The first time we'd met the denmother had been a lot scarier, let me tell you.

That girl would walk up without a shred of fear, wave happily and set down some food next to her. That wolf was only slightly larger than she was _standing up_. While seated, the wolf positively loomed over her, a maw big enough to snap her head off. Instead of chomping down for an easy brown-haired meal to go, the wolf would pad forward and sit on its haunches in front of Yume. She'd speak a bit to the wolf. Sometimes she'd giggle. Sometimes she'd frown. Other times she'd just act confused by something. Most others didn't even suspect that Yume was speaking to the wolf telepathically but having enough experience with _that_ camp it was clear as day to me. I asked her about it once which she confirmed for me. More like empathy then telepathy, the den mother would send her images, feelings, moods during their 'chats'. After the formalities were complete Yume would stand, bow, and walk away leaving the tribute of food behind. The wolf mother would take the tribute and return to her den. If we were lucky we'd see a few tiny furry heads peek behind the cave cautiously. Usually we'd only see a small glance at best, maybe a fuzzy tail dashing back into safety.

This all started five days ago when the voices pounded into my head about getting Last Fang to bag a wolf pup for Yume. They ragged on about a beastmaster being the perfect choice for our resident ditz, and generally being insufferable. I obliged them. Mostly to shut them up… I mean because I'm a completely loyal and willing minion, of course! Yes, that's the word!

 _Should I steal a cup, the white goddess Eldritch will punish my colony greatly for such a sin. It is not the way, fledgling._  
"Oh. Well, guess that plan's foiled. Didn't know you paid homage to Yume's god." I'd asked Last Fang about swiping a cup for Yume. That plan hadn't gone as smoothly as I thought, clearly.  
 _She is the goddess of nature, and commands significant power in these forests. Since I have intruded on her territory, I have gone to great lengths to gain her respect and even blessing over the decades. My kind are customarily seen as a blight by all gods except for one._  
"A blight?"  
 _Instincts drive us to consume and expand the colony. It is not seen with welcome or enthusiasm by the consumed. However, I acknowledge am… different after my experiences. I've found contentment in staying unimportant, small. A unique goal perhaps among my kind.  
_  
She paused for a moment. _But I digress, you do not understand the nature of hunters fledgling, your hydra's plan would not work._ Last Fang returned to the topic at hand quickly brushing off her previous tangent.  
"So what am I missing then?" I asked crossly. That particular night, Ranta had dragged the rest of the gang into his next bit of mischief: peeking on the girls. I had enough common sense to stay as far away from all that as I could. Had trap written all over it in bold capital italicized letters.

Ok, it's also _possible_ I was lazy and relied on Manato to persuade Ranta off from getting caught. Possible. He's the team leader right? Lead the team properly Manato, take on your destiny and foil the dastardly peeping tom! I'll be right here in my comfortable bed, cheering you on in my head.

That spider had a habit of speaking haughtily and it grated on my nerves every now and then. "As far as I heard about it, either she pays a gold at the guild for a wolf pup and training, or she pays a few silver for just the training if she find a pup on her own. Thought it could be any pup." I said, looking up to the ceiling where I knew Elise was sulking.  
 _Accurate. But undetailed. I suppose the hunter's guild has their own secrets to keep. Have you ever wondered where they get these 'pups' in the first place?_  
"The voices in my head want Yume to be a good beast master. Not play twenty questions." I said, hitting her weak point. She seemed hell bent on keeping the voices satisfied. As far as I was concerned, getting her to do anything for me just involved me saying the word 'Simon says…' and that'd be it. Except Simon was a bunch of munchkin maniacs in my head constantly discussing how to game the entire world. Seriously. What the hell did you guys even do to the poor spider?

 _Very well. Suppose I find and snatch a wolf pup to return here, without interference from the goddess. It could easily be done by my hand. But it would still not work as you hoped._  
"Bite me, I said no twenty questions! Actually on second thought don't bite me! Just a figure of speech is all." The spider on the ceiling didn't move. Crisis averted! "Just tell it flat. It's only a matter of time till Ranta gets caught, slapped to hell and back, then comes back here to complain about it. No one's going to get sleep after that, certainly not me."  
 _As you wish. The beasts that follow a hunter have a partnership relationship. Not one of family. Both the hunter and their… pet as you'd call it, agreed on their relationship before commitment. To steal an infant and secret it away to your hunter would force her to change the relationship from master and familiar to mother and adopted child._  
"I… I kinda see where you're getting at. Yume wouldn't want to put that pup in danger anymore would she?"  
 _No mother wishes their children to suffer intentionally. At least not within the beasts. Sentient beings on the other hand, are full of contradictions. You pay a price for being intelligent._

"So how do they raise a pup anyhow?"  
 _The beasts hunters tame are not ordinary in nature. If they were, they would be household pets at best._  
"Right, because we can't possibly have a cute cat as a pet. Gotta be something with too many fangs I suppose." I grumbled, thinking back at Mr. Snuggles from Richard's boot camp. After a few days, I got a very thorough understanding of how to play fetch from the stick's perspective. Why couldn't it be a cute hamster? Or a goldfish. This world sucked!  
 _A hunter's pet is a magical beast, fledgling._ The spider chittered in my head with mirth. _One who's race has evolved a partnership with other magically tainted animals, such as yourself._

"Wait, she can tame a dragon or something?" Yume with a dragon would be terrifying. And in way more ways then just traditional. Just imagine that scatterbrain giving a dragon a belly rub.  
 _Dragons don't need humans to survive and flourish. There is no benefit to a relationship with a hunter._

"I see. It's got to be a symbiotic relationship then."  
 _Yes. There are many beasts out there that will enter a partnership, in this forest the only animal that will fit your requirements is a silverstream great wolf. A very noble animal, and held in esteem by the godess. There is only one denmother raising cubs that are almost of age to be given to the hunter's guild._

"Right, so Yume just walks up and asks for the pup?"  
 _Yes._

"And of course it's more compli - wait what. We just _ask_ her? Seriously?"  
 _Yes. Your hunter will have to prove they are capable of caring for the pup. If she does, then the denmother will give her a pup that's old enough. The mother assumes the guild will do the same for the pup she gives to them, your hunter shall simply bypass the guild._

"How would Yume prove she's capable? If you say she needs to do a few bow tricks with apples, we're going to have a problem here." Wait. We've got Ranta. Never mind, problem solved!  
 _Nonesense. Bows are hardly the only weapon a hunter uses. Present the denmother with food over the weeks. It will prove to her that your hunter is capable of supplying a living to her pup. That is all a mother needs._

I groaned. Food meant money. And money meant I was gonna be short another few capas. But Silas! I can hear you say already; you don't need more gold! All the money in the world can't make someone happy! Yes, that's quite true. But the lack of it can sure make someone miserable. And being miserable sucks. To which you'll say: you've got a chest full of gold, kindly shut the fuck up about being poor. And I'll rebuttal saying…. Fuck. I just argued myself into a hole there didn't I?  
FINE. We'll pay for the food so that Yume gets to work her magic.

Wait a tick. Its Yume's pet right? Then she should foot the bills for food right? It's only fair. Yes. Clearly it's only fair, I'm certainly justified in not paying a single capa!  
I glanced around wildly to my left and right. No sign of a fan, or menacing glare to be found. Saved!

So the next day, we set out into the forest following a detour I 'spotted'. Rest was history.  
And before you ask – yes, Ranta got caught of course. But apparently not before corrupting Manato, Mogzo and Haru to join in on the peeping somehow. I didn't press for details since none of them seemed to want to talk about it. Except for Ranta. Who was just as shameless as you'd expect. Say what you want about him – kid's got a pair. I briefly considered buying that gender-swapping potion just to see what Ranta would do. Either he'd be beyond happy at having boobs he could grope at will, or utterly panicking. Probably both at the same time come to think of it.

I walked in on all four of them sitting on their knees, apologizing to the two girls. Except for Ranta, who had to be _helped_ first. Yume gave him a titanic slap on the face and that settled everything shortly.

I personally found it hilarious. Later on, I wouldn't be laughing about it much since unlike what I'd thought at the time – it seemed like only Yume thought the same way I did. Our mage on the other hand seemed to have taken it as a serious black mark on her pride instead of harmless mischief. Don't ask me why, I don't think I'm the sharpest tool in the shed about all this, as Mary kindly informed me. As far as I saw it, we went out to _kill_ or _be killed_ each day. Everything else just seemed so tiny in comparison.

I talked to Mary about it on one return trip, and she accused me of having the emotional depth of a puddle. See? Informed me politely. And then she refused to explain to me what the big deal was. It was so obvious to me at least – The guilty had been caught, tried, and punished. Case closed. That the mage had started _sulking_ could very well get someone hurt – or worse. If she wanted to be moody, that's fine. But her actions were causing a rift in the group. I'd also talked to Manato beforehand about all this, which is probably why he stopped me right as I was about to tear into her. Instead he asked me to let him handle this specific case. He seemed to have a plan. A few days later everything seemed solved again.

By then, our daily earnings shot up to around 70 capas per person. On good days, we might even make it past one silver. Money that I quickly put to use buying better than average food items for the group. It was my thanks for having them come after me, and made me feel better about swiping that gold coin. A few of them noticed, but no one said a word. I think Manato knew I needed to give back for their rescue in my own way.

I thought back on the week. It had been eventful, but oddly quiet. Richard's training camp from hell also had the same feeling, where the voices simply _stopped_. I'd pass entire days without a single whisper. It should have freaked me out to be sure, but it felt more like they were dormant. Waiting for something big to happen.

Lex had showed up late in the night after I'd returned from Last Fang's hive.  
 _"_ _What a day! Cheer up Silas, for you seized it! You masterfully introduced Mary, and secured her respect. She wouldn't otherwise have followed the party in a rescue effort with nary a word of protest!"_ He said, a sincere smile on his face. It would have been comforting of course, except Lex appeared as a high class businessman, suit and all, and everyone knows such creatures don't smile unless their schemes are working. With Lex; could be anything. He was certainly ruthless but trans-dimensional beings might just do that because they find it funny.  
"What are you up to Lex?" I muttered, already heading to my bunk.  
 _"_ _Certain Death became a powerful, if tentative, ally, and riches like you haven't dreamt of wait you. Your party learned a valuable lesson, and your role, your crucial relevance is now firmly acknowledged."_ He said proudly, _"_ _Now go, take the rest you earned and sleep the sleep of Champions."_  
"I'll get right on that." I mumbled, watching him walk away. He shot out one final bit of advice before I fell asleep, _"_ _But don't you dare skip morning training again without a very good reason, or we are going to havewords."_

That was the last time I heard of Lex up till now. True to his warning, I did wake up each day and diligently did my conditioning. Somehow, I had a terrible feeling in my gut that Lex hadn't meant mere _words_ if I didn't follow through. Discipline was surprisingly simple to do when you knew other people were silently judging you. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get privacy at some point. Work in progress!

The other interesting thing to happen, was in my dreams oddly enough. Around the second day after the spider incident, I fell asleep and woke up immediately in a lucid dream. There, Revya stood. _"_ _Welcome."_ The youth said, _"_ _And let the fun begin."_ A sword was drawn.  
I see. Training even in my dreams! A true munchikin idea if I've ever heard one.

I drew my spear and we started the spar. It didn't even last ten seconds before I'd cracked a few ribs and had the voice downed. "You call that a fight?" I thought in my dream.  
Very quickly, Revya learned to regret challenging a man with a spear and shield who knew how to use them. Just to be clear, I didn't torture! I just had a _little_ bit of fun. Just a tiny bit ok? After that, I was left with an empty lucid dream to do whatever the hell I wanted in once Revya figured out a way to esca- I mean… peacefully allowed to leave. As for what I did next, that's between me and myself, but it did involve swimming in a vault of gold coins while wearing the most badass looking armor I could possibly imagine, at one point.

The day after, I went to visit Richard. Training a skill would cost anywhere between five silver to two silver, and take about half a day to a full day to learn. Currently, he was offering the same skills as before, explaining to me I simply didn't have the experience to learn more difficult skills yet. I figured I'd leave all this till the weekend to do. We had to have a free day at some point right? Just so I could fill my free day with more work and training. Sounds like a fulfilling life to me.

My feet slammed on the mud, splattering it around and driving me back into the present. We were on our way to the chest now. Inbound for a few hours more. No monsters between us and it.  
Last Fang had found another undead by the chest, and plenty of evidence that the thief had also been dormant there too. The forest bunny must have given it quite a long chase for it to appear where we were. Last Fang didn't take a chance, her warrior crushed the dormant skeleton's head and the spell holding it together faded immediately.

Kate had found quite a lot during the last few days. She'd thrown her full weight into it too, choosing to complete the mission I'd given her before taking on training at the rouge's guild. The rings house Tyule gave their servants typically all did the same thing, a moderate increase in agility and strength. Perfect for the military house. However, they also had another feature – given a codeword, the ring would grant a massive burst of speed useable once per day or so. That said, it was all second-hand knowledge and we wouldn't know for sure until we got it identified properly – including the codeword. There weren't many of these rings out there, but Lord Tyule would certainly pay a nice finder's fee for its return. It seemed the noble was of mild disposition. The second bit of knowledge she got back was on the chest and more importantly – the band of crooks that stole it.

They'd ambushed a Tyule carriage carrying a daughter from one of the branch families. After ransoming her back, they'd kept the chest. Selling any of the gear they'd found inside would lead everyone back on them so unlike typical impatient villains in a story, they stashed it away for six months waiting for everyone to forget. Technically it took four months, but they waited an extra two just in case.  
Getting the chest back had not gone well apparently. They'd sent their rouge first and when he hadn't returned they thought he'd betrayed them. But the rouge had just vanished off the face of the earth.

So the crooks went to check for themselves. Rumor says they returned empty-handed with one less member, but they no longer asked questions about their rogue. Kate wasn't able to pry for more, least she paint a bullseye on her back. Apparently the group was pretty close lipped on what exactly went down there. My thoughts on the whole thing: Some critter killed the rouge by either accident or lack of foresight on his part. Then when the party came looking for their chest, their dead rogue attacked them, likely killing one of their own in the process before they booked it. Which explains why there would have been two undead laying by the chest.

Fortunately, their loss was our gain. Too bad they never tried to mount a second party to recover the chest. Superstitious lot.

The hike was getting bogged down by yesterday's rain. Muddy terrain slowed down our progress climbing uphill. Fortunately, I could easily zone out here. Especially with Last Fang keeping all the problems at bay. The voices had been doing things in the background. Clearly I wasn't the only one plotting things. That I knew for sure. For one, Yume once talked to Haru about an alpaca that puked rainbows in her dreams, then it had tried to disappear from the dream but she chased after it for hours, poor thing. Haru agreed he'd seen the same thing a few nights ago, though he was weary about it. It vanished the moment the alpaca was out of sight. Rest of the party hadn't heard so the gossip ended there. Alpacas in other people's dreams. Sounded like _someone's_ up to no good.

103 was full on science mode this time around. He tried to see how far he could float away from me, which ended up being a mile or so from his report. Walls and everything, he floated through like a ghost. From what Last Fang told me, I suppose technically they _are_ ghosts. Or one giant ghost with a lot of hands ending in puppets. Through the day he tried to spook regular people, but being only a tiny part of the whole, there wasn't much success at all. He did however, turn out to be a great scout, finding out all about our attic and what it held. His final test was asking me to give him commands. I ordered him to zoom around the room. He floated for a moment more in front, and disappeared. Clearly he was a terrible minion and should take lessons.

That's not the end of it either. Chaos had me trap a rat and pin it down while she stuck her hand through its _head_. And with a look of complete boredom, like it was just another science experiment. After a good five minutes, the rat was still trying to chew at my leather gloves. I shrugged at the angel lady. Guess it wouldn't work if you're solo. But nooooooo chaos didn't give up at that. She had me drug it asleep – which had me buying a sleeping potion for 10 capas, just to test out her theory. Which also seemed to fail, judging from her frown. The sleeping rat only twitched in its dreams.

That seemed to infuriate her, because next thing she did was wreak havoc around the room. Punching walls, pushing beds, throwing papers out the windows, the whole shebang. And damn would it be pretty destructive, if her hands didn't zip through everything like a ghost would. No, even a ghost could at least haunt someone properly.

Chaos only glared and zipped off through the night, telling me she'd look around town and evesdrop for information.

Of all things, that actually did turn out successful. But what she got was pretty useless. Random gossip about shady deals that weren't healthy for me to know about, and that the neighbors had some kinks.  
That said, she actually had something useful to tell me during our long chat. _"_ _New info please listen, this info will not be about the world you're in right now but your home one,"_ She said,  
 _"_ _It is a world of more advance technology then the world you're in, where magic exist as legends or myth in stories or games. It is mostly peaceful with few wars here and there due to political issues. But hey, no world is perfect. It annoys me at the humans of this world - most of them clearly care little for you and the ones before your arrival. Honestly I would deliver divine punishment if I had more power to interfere..."_

They knew about my homeworld. That… was pretty fucking huge. I tried to press for more information, but got nothing concrete from Chaos. Drat.

We arrived at the spot. Like Last Fang mentioned, there was indeed the remains of another skeleton. This one had his skull caved in. Wow. What a happy coincidence. Guess the chest was ours for the taking.  
Last Fang had followed her agreement to the letter. Right next to the chest was another undead with a skull equally cracked, wearing quite the armor. And by his dead hands was none other than the courtier's casket. With eight gold pieces waiting inside. The group approached the site nervously, clearly expecting the skeletons to rise up from the grave.

After a few tense minutes, we scooted forward enough for Mary and Manato to get on with the last rites, scattering the few broken skeletons into ash. All that was left, was us and one large half-sunken chest.

Massive thing really. Looked like it was used to carry someone's luggage. Sturdy planks kept it together, despite the myriad of cuts and battle scars the chest wore proudly. Probably a good two or three inches of wood to protect the loot from the nasty adventurers. A bit of moss had started to grow on the side, fighting for territory with the vines that wrapped around it.  
The problem was the padlock on the chest's sigil. That spelled locked chest to me. And locked chests mean zero loot unless they magically turn into unlocked chests.


	16. Chapter 16

Ranta was all over it. "HA! We're rich! **RICH**!" He jumped over the fading skeletons and made a beeline for the chest. Manato shot me a look and I took the order in stride. My spear wacked him lightly over his head with the flat end. One of the prongs stuck themselves on the inside of his leather armor which I used, yanked him backwards.  
"Keep it together 'till we're sure there's nothing that's planning on jumping out at us." I barked. Ranta glared at me with open hostility, "Why do you have to ruin everything Silas! You're seriously pissing me off here!"  
"I'm keeping you alive for all you know." I growled back at the kid. "What difference does it make it we get the loot now, or an hour later?"  
He didn't have an answer to that. Checkmate.

Manato similarly had already begun fencing us around the territory. Yume and Haru were dispatched to scout the area, while Mary and the man himself set up our campsite. I kept guard around with Ranta, making sure if anything so much as jumped - it would land on our shield and swords first. Giant chest with a lock was tempting. Knowing there were dead people around it made it less tempting. We all set up shop like clockwork, it wasn't our first time after all.  
Then something I haven't heard for the past week came back, echos and light muttering behind me. I glanced around expecting Mogzo was trying to tell me something. Instead, no one. A half-second passed before I realized the voices had returned from whatever dormant state they'd been in. Sure, they'd shown up every once in a while here and there, but the mutterings had never returned with them. They were _back_.

Guess I should be expecting my first visitor. And they didn't disappoint either.  
 _"_ _I classify a scenario like this as rampant with "schmuck bait" options, and the addition of multiple BAD ENDS as a mechanic damn near confirms it."_ A voice critically said.  
What? Lost chest in the middle of an evil forest, with dead things around it? What could possibly go wrong?

"What do you think Manato?" I asked, and the man to my side answered easily enough.  
"Same thing you're thinking: Probably a trap. I'm trying to figure it out, but there's something I'm missing about all this."  
"Yeah." I nodded, "I get the same gut feeling. Think Haru would be able to find the problem here?"  
"He's got a set of lockpicking tools and he did learn the skill. He's our best bet."  
"Let's go with that then, taicho."

There was something I was forgetting here. And I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The longer the time went, the more uncomfortable I felt. Nevertheless, we took our time scanning the forests and doing a solid job on the basics. Once the group was sure there wasn't any incoming monsters arriving uninvited to catch us with our pants down, we regrouped around the makeshift camp and begun discussing tactics.

 _"_ _Hmm ah the classic magic chest."_ Chaos said at my side taking a look at the chest, _"_ _How many greedy humans have fallen to your belly… So my kin, we approach this cautiously or try to get more info?"_ A unanimous _treat-with-extreme-prejudice_ came out.  
The voices had come back in full force. Already I could see them passing through the chest, trying to peer inside. The report was: A whole lot of blackness. Makes sense, no light, no sight.

Ranta was twitching, glancing over at the chest with greedy eyes every few seconds. Surprisingly, it was Mary that was keeping him level. The priest had some no-nonsense sway on the dread knight that had been unsubtly homed over the last few days. Single glare in his direction made him snivel down and behave for the moment. I looked up at our thief, who seemed uncomfortable in his own manner.  
"Haru. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. It could be dangerous." I said, giving him a forgiving smile. The thief gulped audibly. I'm pretty sure he knew he'd be up to bat the moment he saw that padlock. No - he'd been unnerved ever since we set out. He probably knew the moment we announced the goal of this expedition.  
"I know. I'll do it." He answered mutely. I wondered if he worried he'd succeed, or if he worried he might get hurt. Probably both.  
"We'll watch your back, don't fret." Manato added, giving him a heavy pat on his back.  
"Go for the coffer first." I instructed, "That tiny chest is probably a lot less protected then the bigger one. Besides, Mogzo and I want to split that armor up something bad."

Indeed, both of us had that glint of greed on our eyes. Mogzo already had a full chestplate, so that part would be mine. Since he didn't have a shield, he'd take the helm. The rest of the armor plates could be divided neatly. Our fighting styles were different enough to make the split easy.  
"As for the Tyule chest, try to look around the padlock before you get started on that. Hinges and the like. For all we know, the padlock's just decoration." I said with a shrug. I had no idea how thieves did their stuff, but the voices had been pretty clear with me on approaching this chest with every bit of caution.

Haru stood, grabbing a set of metal tools from his belt. "Haven't actually been able to unlock anything since training, but I made it a point to get my tools for today."  
He took his time turning the coffer around, looking for anything wrong. After a few minutes, he carefully opened the lid. Then froze.  
"… gold." He said quietly. That was all Ranta needed to bolt at his side.  
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The dread knight shoved Haru to the side and dumped the contents of the coffer onto the ground without a second thought. A few rolls of paper floated down, and eight heavy gold pieces trickled to the ground even faster.

The group sat and stared for a moment. Even Mary seemed utterly shocked. All except for me, since I already knew what was going to happen.

"I count eight pieces." I said, walking over. "One for each of us."  
"WE'RE FUCKING RICH! RICH! No - MEGA RICH!" Ranta scooped up the gold and started laughing his head off, running around the area with child-like glee. Lord Bleeding Heart tutted, _"_ _Buy the gender swap potion. Do it. Do it now. Then slip it in his food or drink in the tavern, and never say a word on the matter. No price is too high for the cause most nobles."_

A wisp of spectrum's fan was spotted on the edge of my sight. _"_ _S.B, you poor sweet, summer child. Do you know how these things work? You'd only end up accidentally drinking it yourself."_ I gulped. _"And then I'd have to attempt to possess you just to see what would happen..."_ She finished. Wait - aren't you all possessing me already?! Let a guy have his fun. Geeze.  
I froze for a moment then, suddenly thinking over the ramifications. On one hand I'd have boobs. On the other hand, I'd have boobs in a world Ranta exists in. I could see him already.  
 _"_ _Silas! You're like my brother right?!" He'd say with that greedy gaze, "So do something nice for once and let me fondle your boobs! You're a man right!? Right! You understand those things are filled with our dreams, brother! Now, STRIP."_  
I felt a shudder from my head all the way down to my feet. That's a nope. Negative. Not a chance in hell. If I ever decide to prank Ranta, **extra** measures must be ensured that I won't end up on the losing side of all this. That man had harassed every girl in our group already about their chests. Except for Mary, because Mary would slap him to kingdom come the moment he even tried to ogle her.

It took a while to settle everyone down and distribute the loot. Unlike before where we agree to deal with loot distribution after the expedition was safely home, we decided to just do it here and now. Eight gold was easy to split after all. During this entire time, the voices were on a completely different topic. Turns out they liked the idea of having a wolf pet too. While everyone was celebrating, I was getting tasked to do even more research into all this - which meant _work_ , again. My favorite.

Technically, I don't think it would be impossible. Come to think of it, it could very well be that the hunter's guild has a monopoly on pets, the denmother was clearly going to drop off her pups at the guild once she had properly raised them. Cycle of life for them.  
And in this entire forest, the only pups close to the age of becoming familiars were just one tiny family out in the boonies. From Last Fang's information at least. It could be that the real reason only hunters have pets is simply finding a possible pup in the wilds was downright improbable. Not to mention knowing you had to bargain with the mother first, I certainly wouldn't have thought that when I first met the she-wolf. Damned hunters probably kept that a secret so only they would get a wolf pet! Next time we meet up with the denmother, I'm going to walk with Yume and discuss my options.

Meanwhile, Ranta was the one proudly giving everyone their gold pieces. I've never seen him happier. "One for you! And one for you! And Mogzo, here's yours you giant bastard!"  
When he reached me, Ranta handed me two gold coins, waggling his eyebrows wordlessly. There was a disgusting leer on his face followed by a similar grin. Two gold. It was obvious why.  
I sighed. "A little heavy-handed aren't you Ranta?"  
"What are you talking about? Me? Heavy-handed? Nonsense!" And he was off already to hand a piece off to Yume.

I fingered the two gold pieces, sighed again and made my way to Mary. She had her hands crossed in front of her chest, as if preparing herself for bad news.  
"Here's your cut," I said without any thought, passing her the gold coin. She glanced at me for a moment, then reached out a hand and grabbed it just as naturally. The girl stayed silent for another pause, then spoke.  
"Other groups would have turned on themselves for this, let alone giving to an... outsider. Than-" And then she quickly shut her mouth.  
"Ho-hoho~ Was that possibly a thank you I almost heard?" I grinned.  
"Just your imagination." She replied coolly, already pocketing the coin into her belt. All the money in the world won't make Mary smile, I thought in my head. I'd be disappointed if it did though. Next up: Food. Cake always made me grin after all. Doubt it'll be that easy, but hey, it'll be fun at least.

In a few minutes, we'd settled the people down. Everyone was thinking about what they'd get with their gold piece. Buying their contract was the obvious first choice. That left everyone with 80 silver pieces to work with. As for Mogzo and I, we had our bags filled up with the rusted armor parts. It was a good day. Then our thoughts turned over to the Tyule chest.  
Seemed like the group all thought the same thing: If the tiny coffer had that much loot in it, what could this chest possibly have? We settled back down, and Haru once again readied himself for his next challenge.

He made his way to the chest carefully, taking his time. Meanwhile, Yi had showed up wearing a rather creepy looking set of gear. Apparently, he was ready in action to take over the next undead we'd spot on our way forward. We discussed for a moment, mostly him explaining things while I wrote it down on my notebook. Safe enough. The problem is keeping this notebook from ever getting in Mary's hand – she could read it.

Arbit on his side of things, only showed up with another recipe from my old world: Potato chips. I can't believe I'd forgotten about potato chips. This world seriously sucks. He did have some relevant advice for the chest, if not on the disturbing side of things.  
"Hang on a sec, take a few steps back." I muttered to Haru, grabbing a rock on the voice's suggestion. Was I being paranoid? Absolutely. Remind me again why that's a bad thing in a world that's out to kill you? That's what I thought.

I took aim, and lobbed the rock at the chest. Arbit told me the chest could be a mimic, some sort of monster that poses as a chest. The stone sailed swiftly through the air, and made a wooden crunching sound on impact, falling flat on the ground a moment later. A tiny indent was left on the wood. I swear I could have heard something snarling, but it was more likely another sound from inside my head. The mutterings weren't always _voices_.  
"Looks a bit squishy for wood." I said, "Might have rotten a bit. Careful about any bugs that made their home. Rotten wood attracts a lot of nasty biters. Check there isn't a pit-trap around it or something just as bad. If I had to guard a chest, I'd be putting something nasty around it too." I readied my shield on chaos and the rest of the voice's advice, taking a proper stance.

Arbit wasn't done just yet. He asked me to focus the critical eye on my spear trying to possess the weapon. I felt the tell-tell world slow down around me, but after six seconds had passed from my perspective, my spear remained as ordinary as it's always been.

Haru nodded solemnly after I was done, taking extra care around the chest. In a few minutes, he'd cleared the area and advanced onto the chest itself. The first tool slid into the lock and began to exert pressure. Not even a second later, the lock clicked open. He sighed out in relief, looks like he'd been holding his breath. "Heh… it was unlocked this entire time."  
Ranta didn't bother holding himself back anymore. "Let's see what we got then! Open it, open it!"  
"Ranta, wait. We still ne-"  
"Ahh shut up with all your paranoia Silas! It's just a chest. The entire point of a chest is to have loot inside. Loot for us to take! Loot! First come, first served!" He shoved Haru to the side, and slammed open the chest.

For some reason, my mind kicked into gear just then. The missing part I'd been wracking my brains about returned clearly with fringe horror: _Why hadn't the thieves tried again?_ Why hadn't they simply hired more members and defeated the two skeletons? A disturbing feeling, realizing everything just a moment too late.  
 _Critical eye._ I thought, feeling the skill kick into gear. It came with a groan, pushing my limits. I felt in my gut using that skill a third time would cause problems. Still, the world slowed around me and I refused to follow its pace. My foot erupted forward, one before the other, straining against the anchor of my inertia. Spear was drawn without thought simultaneously.

The thief had been strong. He even held a ring from house Tyule. But somehow he'd died. How? Mistake? Accident? That's… too unlikely. They wouldn't hide their chest deep in a forest that could pose any threat to them.

I saw Haru realize the danger and throw himself to the side. Ranta hadn't. And I wasn't going to make it to his side in time.

So what killed that undead thief? Because a full party of well-prepared criminals weren't going to be beat by one undead thief, there had to be more than just it. And whatever it was, killed another one of them.

Mud clung to my feet as step by step I bolted directly for the chest, hand outstretched, reaching for the stunned dread knight.

Something had happened and the criminals decided it was no longer worth recovering the treasure. Either it wasn't worth it to hire additional muscle, or something happened to the treasure itself. Either it was gone already… or cursed.

The black insect like claws exploded from the chest, a maw at the center filled with teeth. Like an armored octopus. Half beast, half shadow. I could see the tendrils of dark fog evaporate around its legs, and the chest itself was blacker then the abyss. Some parts of it looked wooden, other parts animal like. Unnatural. Whatever this beast was, I knew in my gut it had no place in the ecosystem, this _thing_ was created by magic, nightmare made flesh.

Haru had managed to escape the swiping claws, but Ranta wasn't as fortunate. Four of the beast's limbs had wrapped around him already, and another had skewered him through his stomach in an instant. My feet brought me to bear. I saw the tell-tell glints of red from the critical eye, marking each joint. Most of its carapace were blue marks, but the few joints were open to damage. The spear pierced forward in a flurry. Three quick jabs, and the thing shrieked, dropping its focus long enough for me to slam into Ranta and throw him backwards, unskewering him before the grasping limbs had a firm hold. I got a glimps of the center. A thousand teeth surrounded the maw, and I had no doubts they would be more then capable of shredding steel and bone alike for whatever was unfortunate enough to be swiped.

The mimic wasn't pleased with both its meals having escaped. A moment later, the half-materialized limbs lashed out hungrily. Right against my readied shield. I took the blunt of the damage while backpedaling, then dived into a roll, never allowing the crab like limbs to wrap themselves around me. More of it was pouring out of the opened chest second after second, causing the chest to tumble forward over the weight. It was surreal. There was no way such a beast could even fit inside the chest in the first place. I'd been enormously lucky, all things considered. It could have mangled Ranta and Haru both in one go.

The demon looked like a mutated hermit crab, with the chest as its shell. A very lethal hermit crab.  
"ggggGAAAAAAAAAAAAAA **AAHHHHHHHHH** "  
Haru. I glanced at my side and noticed he'd been speared by one of the longer limbs. The crab-like creature didn't waste a moment, already dragging the thief towards its maw, more of its claws reaching to secure the morsel of food. It didn't get far, a massive broadsword cleaved into the chest, biting down deep and shoving the whole thing into the ground for a moment. "THANK YOU" Mogzo bellowed. He'd buy four seconds at most, enough time for only one action.

A glance around told me the rest of the team had pulled themselves together. Yume was clutching her bow, unsure where to fire. Shiharou had magic missile mid-cast, clearing the final marks. A second more and it would be ready. Our priests hadn't been idle either. Manato was standing over Ranta and Mary kept a critical eye on the beast, taking a stand by the mage, her staff nervously clutched.

Eight of us against the fiend. The only thing on my mind; my next move.

I dove backwards, leaping over an outstretched limb of the beast. A glimmer of steel shone in the woodland light, striking back against the darkness. My spear held it back for a moment.  
 _Not enough._  
"Joints! Hit the join-" My own shout was cut short. A limb slashed at me, dragging me onto the ground. I felt bones crack, and blood pool into my throat. No moment to spare, I rolled to the side trying to find footing again. Somehow I'd managed to escape it's range.

I saw Haru desperately hacking away at the singular limb. The beast was distracted by Mogzo's continuous hits, long enough for the thief to escape with a sickening heave, his leg had been badly mangled.  
A hand reached behind my back and lifted me forward. Manato. His look conveyed everything. _Can you continue_?  
I nodded, taking a glance at the situation. The voices swarmed around me, then in agreement with one another, dove into the beast.

I watched a moment more, feeling the mutterings vanish from my own mind.

* * *

Hunger.  
Awake.  
 _Must feed._

They had come! Woken from month long slumber, twitching. Hungry. They spoke in maddening tongues, as the creatures were like to do. Stayed quiet. Waiting. Always waiting. More waiting. They come soon enough. _I eat._  
Energy was crucial. Must conserve at all costs, even time. Soon enough, patience will be rewarded. Rock thrown at me, but I stay quiet. Always waiting. Must conserve energy. When eating time comes, will eat. No mistakes allowed.  
Thief approached, tinkering at my padlock.

I eat?  
 _No._ Not yet.

Other human followed behind, hands grabbed at my shell. Yes. Felt his life flow. Will satisfy hunger, yes. Then, the moment came. The shell was opened.

I eat?  
 _Yes._ I eat now.

I drew from the void, spending energy materializing my body. I grabbed the human, stabbed him too. Food. Blood. Flesh. It had cost me to drag my body into the world. The human's flesh would sustain this cost. The others will make me stronger.  
Other human dodged in time. No matter. Food was close enough.

Then, one of the humans had charged into me. Cut at my legs, pain. Pain! The human slammed into my prey, carrying him off as I flinched. Anger. Anger! ANGER! My food! My energy! Stealing it! Taking it! Must eat! Must!  
I clawed at the human, desperate for blood. Did not notice other human with long sword. Mistake.  
It tore at my shell, force slamming me down. Anger. Distress. Hunger.

I eat?  
 _Yes._  
But who?

Human with sword, dangerous, but very close. Easy. Two claw legs brought out to protect me.  
Human with spear was also in range. I brought out two more snatching legs, will catch.  
Thief was close enough too. I brought forth a few stabbing legs, and caught the thief.  
Too many legs being brought out. Costing too much. Must eat! Blood will pay the price!

Caught the thief. Now, to feast!  
Clawed at the giant. Sword cutting, always cutting. Too difficult.  
Swiped at the spear man. He rolled away, but not after I slammed him onto the ground. Saw blood flow out of his mouth. He'll be dead soon. Need to eat him soon. Before he dies.

Odd. Hearing mutterings in the back of mind. Odd. Odd. Odd.  
Screaming at me. But they just voices. The hunger is real. The hunger guides me.

Dragged the thief back, but thief human slashed at my leg and yanked his own out. Stabbing leg was too outstretched. No other legs were available, too busy fighting off sword human. Lost.  
Drew the leg back, sucking on the drops of blood. Yes. Not much food, but food enough. I felt energy return a bit. Not enough to recover the cost of all my limbs, but enough for now.

Mistake. Mistake. Mistake. Did not feed early enough. There were two in range! How? How did they escape? I should be chewing on their muscles, sucking the marrow from their bones. But no. They escaped!  
I lifted my shell into the air, using my legs as legs. Time to move. Time to catch.

Long hair human hit me with an arrow. It hurt. Then other long hair human attacked with magic. It threw me back. I screeched at them, forcing them to cower.

I eat?  
 _No._ Now I have to be smart. They escaped my opening. They not to be underestimated.  
I quelled the hunger down, thinking. I must eat one of them soon, or else I will run out of energy to keep body in this world. I saw a robed human healing the spear human. Healers! Spear human was standing already, hate in his eyes. I will eat _that_ too soon enough!

Charged at the backline, legs snatching for the healer. Must eat! Two humans charged at me, the spear human and the dread knight I'd tried to eat before. Stalled. The healer escaped further behind his teammates. Anger. ANGER.  
I swiped at the two humans, stabbing limbs seeking flesh to sink into. Spear human brought his shield up, felt my leg sink into wood but nothing more. Other human not so clever. Stabbing claw got him. Dragged him quickly to my maw before he could escape again!

They screamed. They all screamed. I loved the sound of it. Didn't have time to turn the knight around and bite head. Just bit deep into the first thing I could – the side of its chest. Blood. Blood! BLOOD! I tore the flesh out, eviscerated the guts, sucked at the lung and grinded down the bones. In one bite, I felt energy flow back into me.

Then pain. My legs dropped unwillingly, and my prey was dragged out of my grasp. No. No! NO! MUST FEED! What happened to my legs! Why had they let go?! I shrieked after the knight, but already the sword human had dragged my food away, sprinting at the robbed humans in the back.  
Another arrow sunk into one of my legs. I ignored it. Spear human made me drop my prey! He had moved fast - faster than he should have. In seconds, the spear had stabbed all four of my legs with pin-point hits on my joints. Two had outright been crippled. All the while, the sword human had dragged my food out of my mouth!

They yelled at each other, barking out orders. Last wishes. Prayers. I know not what food thinks. But the bite of flesh had made me strong. I brought out more legs using the energy the knight had given me. Who to eat?  
Healers. I saw them. There were two! Two! In the back, frantically mending the dread knight's side. I roared, diving forwards.

The shield human stood in my way. My legs reached for him, snatching, grabbing. My claw leg scratched his leather armor, slashing through and shredding his arm. Ha! He was slow. Slowing down with every step. Spent too much magic! Two stabs on that wooden shield on his other arm and I ripped it off, flinging him away with it. He hit a tree and crumpled to the floor. Food. I pounced. He rolled away a moment before, my stabbing leg only ripped a glancing morsel of flesh. I heard his screams. They filled me with delight. More stabbing legs swarmed out to skewer him down. I saw blood on the floor pouring from his wounds. My mind went into a frenzy at the smell, food! Another arrow flew into my face, blinding one of my body's eyes.

I made more. I had to see. Then, pain! Behind me! The thief! Stabbed my shell deeply. I felt the wooden chest groan, but my legs failed to catch the food behind me. It had already rolled and scrambled away. No matter. Spear human is too wounded to continue. Easy. _I eat **now**. _

Sword human in the way! It charged into me, bellowing in panic and anger. The force of the collision threw me backwards, had to use some of my stabbing legs to stay steady. Sword human didn't relent. Hacked away at the shell, legs and everything.  
I swiped with my claw leg, and threw him backwards. One of my eyes watched the spear human, collapsed by that tree. Weakening. Dying. No! Must eat it before it passes away! Food not worth anything dead! Was losing energy quickly now. Too many legs out. Needed food soon! Or another bite out of one of them.

I charged at it again, but a ball of magic slammed into my side, forcing me backwards **again**! I shrieked in anger. My shell hit the mud hard, skidding through it. No matter. Spear human had grabbed a red potion with the only good hand it had left. Slathered it over his wounds, then the hand fell and the potion tumbled out of the human's hand. It rose again, grasping at something. Small. Metalic. Round? The spear human shouted something weakly, then threw the metal glint at thief human. Spear human's arm fell back down on its side, eyes lulled closed. Still alive, I could smell it. Good for me. Food to eat without a fight. I'll keep him as a reserve. He out of the fight now. If I run out of energy, will return to eat spear human. Good plan.

Other humans were a problem. Thief human too far to reach but on the ground looking through the mud for whatever spear human had thrown him. Dangerous. Cannot let him sneak around me again! Pain great!  
Sword human other problem. Would get in the way if I tried to eat the backline.  
Bow human and spellcaster human annoying. Not too dangerous.  
Dread knight was back on his feet. I smelled weakness from him, not dangerous anymore. Too _enfeebled_.  
Final two humans were healers. They must be eaten first, or else I will lose. That I know. If I eat them, the group will panic and run. Then I eat them one by one!

I charged forward, striking against the sword human as expected. It roared at me, but I slammed it away once more. Didn't work. His feet rooted into the mud, skidding backwards but not losing stance. I tried to eat it, but the human's sword was too dangerous. Cut at my legs, aiming for the joints. How? Why? Humans too clever. I slammed it with my claw leg again, this time he flew off his feet and rolled away.

Now! I had a clear path to the robbed humans! The mage cannot fight, will be easy food! Sustain myself with that, replenish energy, than go for healers next! Good plan, good plan!  
The mage shrieked, half sobbing and paralyzed with fear. Yes! Perfect! My stabbing leg flew out to skewer her. And it was instantly cut. The dread knight had attacked, now shouting around like a rabid dog. Food must learn its place! I stabbed more at the human and forced him back, opening up the mage once more. Another stabbing leg was sent to secure the prey.

Only to be cut once more!

The healer next to the mage! She'd used a staff with a daggertip! Staff human much more dangerous than I thought. She stared down my legs, unflinching. I saw behind me, thief human had found whatever spear human had thrown. Sprinting at me, like he'd seen something. Doesn't matter. I'll keep two stabbing legs to fend him off. Stabbing human was only strong when I forgot about him.

I threw another four stabbing legs at my food, and a claw leg to keep the knight at bay. Perhaps even grab him if I got lucky. Staff human could only block one stabbing leg. She not getting out of this alive! Other healer threw himself into the fight then, clubbing another two! And an arrow flew straight, aiming for my eyes again. This time I learn. This time I turn my shell to take the arrow harmlessly. Fourth stabbing leg got the staff human. I yanked her off her feet hearing her cry out in pain, dragging her to my maw. She too weak! Too light! Even with only one leg, I could drag her through the air! Other healer screamed, attacking at me with fury, I easily swatted him away with a claw leg. Mage human threw another spell, shoving me backwards by a few steps, but I didn't let go of my food! She fell on the mud floor, but my stabbing leg still had her impaled. Thief human had jumped over my shell, an eerie ease in his steps. I'll catch him easier now that he so close. Doesn't matter - Need to eat **now**! I swung struggling staff human off the ground, and brought her close. In the air, she had nothing to grab, no way to escape! I tasted her fear, then shoved her to my mouth, legs first. Food! Eating! With one human, I could spawn a dozen more legs!

Then… nothing. My limbs dropped the staff human a moment before my jaw closed over her legs.  
My other legs fell flat as well. Body was dying I realized.  
No. Body was **already** dead. How? But… food? How will I feed without a body?

How?

How?

 _How?_

Eyes over the dead body were closing. I felt the void suck me back out of the world. Then I realized what had killed the body.  
The thief human had stabbed with his dagger right through a crack made by one of the arrows and split open by the sword human. It had sunk deep into my core, arm and all, severing my heart. Then, the last eye closed. Legs fell apart, and mind was snapped away.

Only the hunger remained.


	17. Chapter 17

I tossed the ring to Haru. Of all things, I was sure of that. Didn't get to see if he caught it either, looked like it was going to fall into the mud. _Well. That'll suck_. I thought. Being on the edge of falling unconscious had a way of smothering the fear and adrenaline I'd felt through this entire fight. I blinked and when I opened my eye, I wasn't in the forest anymore. That _thing_ wasn't anywhere in sight either. Nor were any of my teammates, Elise, or even the muddy ground.

Instead, I was treated to the sight of what looked like a stone library, overtaken by roots and half-formed trees growing wherever they could. A sense of peace filled the air here, so for a moment I stayed quiet in my corner. As an alternative of being slumped against a wall, I found myself on a comfortable sofa of sorts, a table with treats, and tea naturally waiting on said table in front.  
I'm dead aren't I?

Everything pointed to that. Wondered what sort of eccentric entity I'd meet now. White rabbit with a watch maybe? The place was oddly well lit, which made sense looking around; giant openings to the side revealed this ancient library was likely far above the clouds. Outside, I saw the outlines of what looked like a immense hydra in the distance. Too far away to worry about. Wondered if that was the voices, leaving to jump into the next timeline.

Either I was in some sort of spirit limbo or all this was just my subconscious deciding bizarre was the hip thing to do. Stuck in a dream? Got to have your tea and crumpets of course. Surrealism 101. With a shrug, I decided to go with it. Why be logical in a dream world anyhow? That totally defeats the purpose. Took a cup and poured myself some tea waiting for whoever it was that would inevitably appear in some mysterious and dramatic fashion. There was even music playing, echoing around the stone pathways and book stacks. Interesting atmosphere.  
 _So, get on with the show already. I haven't got all day._ I thought, but then realized I likely **did** have all day. Who's to say a surreal dream follows the rules of physics anyhow? And come to think of it, I wouldn't mind some good old fashioned R and R. Even if it was in a dream. Arbit of all people showed up, equally drinking his own. Wasn't any sort of dramatic appearance either, he was just _there_. No words or anything. I mutely replied with the same.

While taking my first sip from the offered teacup, I felt something whack me on my head lightly. The tea spilled off to the side, emptying half the cup in one messy go. My tea-stained mouth turned and I shot my intruder a glare. Turns out, it was Revya. Guess the voices hadn't jumped ship just yet. He wasn't happy, that was clearly evident. Full on haunting aura with what looked like a ghost mimicking his every motion, complete with a silly demon mask. "What was that for?" I said hotly, trying to recover the tea. "Perfectly good tea here!"  
"Oh my," Chaos said, watching the action going on. Where'd she come from?

"What the Hell, were you thinking talking in the middle of fighting?!" Revya yelled furiously.  
Wait what? I raised an eyebrow answering, "Uh, following orders?" Evidently the wrong answer, but I doubt there was a right answer to that question anyhow.  
"I don't care if you were trying to relay its weakness. You Don't Ever Talk in Battle When Engaging An Enemy!"  
"Hey, hey, hey – three things." I said, raising a hand to signal three fingers. "First, there wasn't a single point where I could just sit down and talk about our feelings with the group you know. Thing was trying to _eat_ me like I was an appetizer on the menu - and you _all_ told me I should be telling my team about the weak points I found. So I did that."  
He was about to rebuttal, but I stopped him quickly waggling two more fingers.  
"Second, you're the one that told me specifically to not think and just do. Remember? The whole, 'Let's have some fun' bit? And third, talking while you're fighting is a staple. Where else would you fit dramatic monologues?"  
I took a sip of my tea. Clearly I had the whole dream thing on lock. This was kinda fun too. "More to the point, you're going to have to swap plans midfight anyhow, ordering people around in a fight just has to be done. If I hadn't ordered Mogzo to drag Ranta out from that thing's _mouth_ , he'd be dead. Y'all haven't yelled at me anytime before when I did it, why now?"

I quickly scanned through the fight trying to point out where I'd fucked up. Plenty of times I've barked out orders, like commanding Yume to hit its head, or having Shiahrou hold off her spell until we needed it. Maybe they were the wrong choices but to have kept my mouth shut would definitely have been the worst option. I was convinced on that point.

Revya wasn't having any of that.  
"When we get back we are training you all into the ground. And if you pull that stunt again you won't like the consequences. Got me?" He leaned in closer, a dagger waving around. _"_ _Sinceyou didn't hear me earlier in the day, screw up one more time and you'll be Kate's Big Sister."_  
He'd told me that particular threat after the dream 'sparring' session a few days ago, during a full on monologue in the vein of 'This isn't even my final form! I'm much stronger then you suspect!' right after I wiped him off the floor. I grinned at him smugly. I think I'll call this one a bluff. My family jewels would stay right where they belonged, thank you very much.  
"Pardon that," Chaos said from the side, "I believe Revya is just showing care for you in a more **_extreme_** way."  
"Yeah, that's a word for it." I muttered.

I think I reached my quota on arguing with the voices in my head anyhow. Tea was getting cold and it would be utterly dreadful to drink cold tea! Unthinkable.  
Yii showed up as well, I think he tried to show me something but clearly it wasn't going through. Something about Mary's secret boyfriend, but he was kidding. He leaned over to tell me something he had on a secret authority, but no sound came out of his mouth.  
"You all right in your head?" I asked. Never got an answer either.

A booming voice behind both of us shook us out. "FOOLISH REVYA!" It shouted, like the wrath of god. "To threaten our Catalyst of Change, to effect him in such a despicable way is dishonorable!"

Hey! I remembered that voice! New one showed up during the fight, yelled a straight up battle hymn and jumped right into the creature along with the rest of the voices. They'd all gone silent after that. Almost thought the thing _ate_ them too when the creature didn't stop moving. I remember feeling pretty panicked about that. But in general, that entire fight had been terrifying enough. Funny how it all seemed like a distant memory now.

"The Catalyst must be nurtured and guided with a firm, but kind hand. The Arrogance in insulting him means little and he deserves none of it." The voice boomed.  
"Yeah! What he said." I said, crossing my arms across my chest and doing my best henchmen pose, while sitting. A lot harder than it looks.

"Be silent!" Revya shot out, "He needs a dressing down, not a pick me up. Keep that up and I'll send you to bug repellent duty. You can't read the mood."  
But the new voice's care cup was empty. It turned to me, "To Catalyst aka SB, I AM GENERAL SCRAGE! You may refer to me as either General! or Scrage!"  
"Can do." I saluted. Because why not? He continued to tell me all sorts of things that sounded like propaganda.

At some point, the Alpaca had appeared too during that monologue. "I'll refrain from doing anything right now because the giant mess of personal actions already looks like a horrible acid trip, and anything I do will just make it worse." He explained sagely. Sounds like this entire thing was just built up by everyone being everyone. I sighed. I want to get off this wild ride.

And just like that, a few slabs of rock floated up into a vague stairway leading outside. Looked like an invitation, so I left the tea, cake and crumpets behind. I made my way up the stairs, oddly unafraid of falling down. Considering what was under each slab of rock was only the sky and some vague undetailed mountains at the bottom, I think that's pretty solid.

At the top; just a wooden desk. Very anti-climatic. For a lucid dream like this, the desk was oddly average. Actually, perhaps the better word for the desk was generic. A wooden desk. The first thought that would come by from that would probably best describe this.

On the desk itself, paper and dice. Along with a nameplate for someone called 'Geoff' Likely the owner of the desk and paper.  
Come to think of it, no desk is complete without a chair right? And on cue, I suddenly notice there _was_ a chair.  
Naturally, I sat down and checked out the papers, bringing the first one out.

"King's Nightmare. Named after the deathless king, since he was the one who contracted these half-demon beasts." I read aloud.  
Oh. Looked like some sort of information on the thing that attacked us. Turns out, we'd stumbled on an old booby trap from the days long past, a relic. The deathless king would have these beasts scattered all over recently taken cities that were unlikely to be held for long. They'd move from spot to spot too, so you'd never know. "…If the city was reclaimed, the humans would be forced to slowly prune through all valuables constantly, promoting paranoia and general fear." I put the paper down. Huh. My subconscious had some very detailed explanations for all this. I tossed it behind me, glancing over the rest of the stack.

Ash huntsman, Last Fang, Ranta, Haru, and so forth. There were even a few papers about the Tyule's and their own political fighting. Looked like a convoluted web of intrigue there. Politics was a den of wolves and I certainly didn't want to dip my feet in there anytime soon. Another paper listing possible encounters in the forest, with two crossed out. On the side was a paper with four rules, clearly consulted often considering the wear and tear. But I had no idea where that fit into the grand scheme here. Seemed like ritualist mumbo-jumbo about spirits. Well, not like any of that is real so I didn't bother wasting my time reading any of this beyond a quick scan. Did my head just have to fill the desk with papers like this, simply because it was a desk and desks needed paper on top?

I dropped the stack back and flinched the dice. Twenty sided, intricately carved, and itching to be rolled. In a moment my hands did what any sane person would do when handed a dice.

Eventually, my attention span nudged me to look for other things to muck around with. This desk had drawers I noticed. Which meant there was something else inside. Thus, by logical conclusion, I should muck around with it.  
Down my hand went and pretty soon I was staring at two things. Top drawer had a huge stack of paper. In a moment, that stack was slammed over the top of the desk with a satisfying sound. Top drawer was now empty.  
Bottom drawer had a tiny cake with frosting that spelled out "Eat me." Ha. Very funny. Clearly my subconscious had run out of original content to churn through.

I brought out the cake while I started reading the top line from that giant stack.  
" _"_ _Awaken."_ Someone whispered in my ears. Or maybe my mind…"  
 _What the hell?_ I thought, munching on the cake. _This is the shittiest writing ever._  
That sentence was my last thought in wonderland, since the clichéd cake did exactly as expected.

I blinked without much thought and the moment my eyes opened again I was back in the forest, leaning against the tree. Gone was the papers, desks, and nonsense. Looks like they'd been right. I wasn't… well. _Eaten_. Good job, pat on the back everyone. We're still in one piece somehow. Death must be annoying customer service demanding a refund right now.

A groan came out of my throat as I tried to stand up. The world spun immediately and promptly I fell down with it. Despite slathering myself with that healing potion, I knew there were still problems on my immediate doorstep. Still a few cuts and bruises that I hadn't applied the potion to – such as my back. Plenty wrong back there, tightening muscles confirmed my suspicions. I likely had contusions from my shoulders down to my legs. Not to mention the blood loss.  
This world sucked.

"Silas, stay calm." I heard Manato's voice, along with his hand pushing me back down. "You got hurt bad, and Mary's still meditating her mana back. I can't risk healing you more right now."  
"Not… safe yet?" My head felt more than just dizzy, it felt like I was on a knife's edge to passing out. Almost couldn't understand Manato. The words were there, but the meaning seemed to pass by me like water over a rock.  
"Maybe. The monster's dead, Haru killed it right before it… before someone was killed. But there could be anything out there in the forest."  
 _There is nothing worse around you for the moment,_ _fledgling_. Last Fang whispered in my mind.  
"I'll be f-fine… for… moment." I stuttered out, trying to articulate my meaning and failing completely. Could really feel the muscles starting to throb. Not to mention the world was tilting slightly to the left again.  
"Stay still." Manato commanded. "You lost a lot of blood, moving around isn't the best idea."  
"A-ah, okay." My mouth muttered weakly. I had a dream I remembered, but most of it was already fading out fast. Something about a desk. And a library – no I remembered now. At least, remembered enough.

Next thing I know, I was on my stomach, armor peeled off leaving my back exposed. Something soft was brushing along my spine. Quickly opened my eyes to see just what the hell was going on - when had I closed my eyes in the first place!?  
"… bruising here, and how it's swollen?" A woman's voice. Mary.  
"I see it." Manato answered.  
"Focus on the cause, and only the cause like I explained. Ignore all the other damage."  
The soft brushing hands left, to be replaced by firmer hand compressing against my shoulder blade. I groaned audibly as a pain shot through the bone.  
"Quiet. You're a warrior, aren't you?" Mary shushed me out quickly.  
"Y-yes ma'am." I answered back. For some reason, I wasn't in the mood to be snarky. Manato invoked his god and I felt the welcome heat of a heal. Now, my back felt much better.  
"Amazing." Manato said quietly. "That took only a fraction of mana. Thank you Mary," The priest happily spoke, learning something new apparently. When did I sign up to being a guinea pig again? I don't remember signing any papers!  
"You've been with Manto… for a week and you haven't shown him the," I stopped to cough a bit, "R-ropes yet?"  
I couldn't see Mary from my perspective here on the ground. But I could hear her just fine.  
"I only noticed while we were both healing Ranta. Manato wasn't efficient with his healing."  
A guilty gulp from the other priest, "She's right. I thought there wasn't much more to cure. I've been applying it wrong this entire time, but no one could notice."  
"It was odd you would exhaust yourself after using that spell three times." Mary explained quietly, "I thought that was why Silas asked me to join."  
"Ahh give yourself more credit, what about your charming personality?" I shot a grin out, feeling myself pick up. Body was feeling better with each cure from Manato. She tutted at that. "Don't test my patience."  
"And let Ranta have all the fun? Wouldn't miss it for the world."  
"I have a staff with a sharp end. And you're on the ground." She let that threat float.  
I knew a losing battle when I saw it, so I shifted the field. "Have you complimented Yume yet? That was the mission for today, don't think I'll let you off the hook just because you saved my life or anything."  
"I don't know what you're talking about." She answered, flustered. I moved my head around so I could see the two priests clearly. Manato was hard at work while Mary was examining his patterns critically.  
"Sure you don't." I answered easily, what a troublesome girl. "Manato's fine, I think he got your lesson. Yume did pretty good with the bow today, and come to think of it Shiharou also pulled out her A game. You should go talk to them,"  
The priest seemed completely indifferent to my comment, focusing harder on Manato's healing. I stared at her, trying to catch those blue eyes while she deliberately tried to avoid my own. A moment later, she gave the slightest of nods.  
"Fine." She sighed, defeated, and stood up making her way out of my view.

For a moment it was just Manato and I.  
"What's the plan, taicho?" I questioned the healer. On his part, he grunted. "Not sure. We can't return without the mushrooms, we've got a reputation to maintain. They'll forgive us if we bring back a part of the monster as proof of what we ran into, most would. But there will always be some people who see it as weakness that we couldn't finish a simple job."  
"Got to keep that street cred." I snickered. That got a cross smile from him.  
"On the other hand," Manato continued, "Ranta is in bad shape. He lost more blood then you did when that thing ripped into him. He's been passing in and out of consciousness. Mogzo is going to carry him."  
"I'm guessing you've got a plan?"  
"Several."  
"Well, let's hear them already."  
He chuckled at that. "I don't think I'm supposed to be asking my patients for advice. That doesn't sound very priestly."  
"But you're gonna do it anyways, so skip forward to the good parts."

Manato bent over to apply another cure spell after having studied the wound. I felt my back straighten, mending, knitting itself back into shape. The pressure relief was beautiful.  
"Two plans. Either we go forward with Mogzo carrying Ranta. Or -"  
"We split the group." I finished for him. It was evident. Two objectives complete. We had a much larger group than usual after all, any other group wouldn't be able to consider this but we could.  
Manato nodded. "Mogzo's the only one strong enough to carry Ranta back to the city without help. Everyone else would need someone else to carry Ranta with them on a stretcher for that long of a distance."  
"And you'd need to send a healer alongside him, in case Ranta's condition becomes more critical, or the second group runs into trouble." I finished.  
The priest nodded again. "Then we'd need to send someone who could fight to help clear out danger they might run into, and possibly hold off a goblin by themselves. Which leaves Haru or Yume for that position."  
"Let me mull it over for a bit."  
"Take your time Silas, I trust you when it comes to fighting and planning for it."

I thought about Elise, glancing over. Somehow, the tiny spider had survived the entire ordeal without being squished. Seemed the creepy crawly understood my intentions when I glanced over.  
 _I've already withdrawn the majority of my warriors over the week. I did not anticipate needing to safeguard more than one group._  
I nodded at that. Last Fang probably had just enough warriors tagging along to deal with the odd goblin pack, and likely just to scare them off. Probably one or two warriors at best. Not that even one is to be taken on lightly.

If we split the group, the brood would only be able to protect one. The other would be on its own, and we've never fought under full strength yet. On the other hand, the job was simple. Something a regular group of Crimson Moon recruits could complete. Maybe I was overthinking all this.

No. There's no such thing as being too careful. It's a dog eat dog world after all, it's not going to hold back any punches just because we recently defeated a nightmare.

The voices were discussing among themselves in the back of my head, I could hear them coming up with plans, some outlandish, others reasonable enough. One-oh-three showed up to the forefront for a moment, _"Well S.B. everyone somehow managed to survive that cluster fuck... Somehow."_  
Agreed. At least the team was reliable even with me knocked out. When I threw that ring, I was half convinced that'd be the last thing I'd ever do with my eyes opened.  
 _"I'm going admit responsibility for screwing up on the look inside the box trick but damn it if you want everyone to get back safe and sound we are going to have to dial up your preparations..."_ He seemed to take a serious look, which was next to impossible considering he appeared like a penguin with a knife. It was utterly insane if you stopped to think about it – there's a penguin with a dagger next to me and only I could see it - but I'd long since learned to wash it out. _"I'll see you later Boss, I've got Plans to cook up."_ He ended ominously. No stopping the voices when they were plotting, so I might as well plot on my own.

For now, I had to consider the facts objectively and come up with a solid plan.  
Ranta was a deadweight so long as he stayed in the forest – not only would he be unable to contribute anything, but he'd also consistently force the rest of us to keep track and protect him which would change our tactics up enormously. A smaller group without that burden would do much better than a larger group in this case.

Which meant splitting up the team like Manto suggested. I ran the numbers in my head quickly, coming to a conclusion. It was almost disturbing how this all broke down into a simple math problem.  
Haru and Yume needed to be split up, they were scouts and each group needed a scout. Likewise, Manato and I would also need to be split – we were the leaders. Each group would need someone competent to handle problems that came by. Mary and Manto had to be split as well. Each group needed a healer, and finally each group needed a tanky warrior which meant Mogzo and I were exclusive as well. Shihoru couldn't be in the team dragging back Ranta. Her personality, along with her combat capabilities meant she **had** to have a strong team to back her up. That couldn't be done with members holding back trying to protect the wounded dread knight. Last, Mary couldn't be split from my side either. The other team members still see her as an outsider, though that's been slowly fading from their minds. If I wasn't around, the team performance would likely drop as there simply wasn't the unquestioning trust there yet.

Which made my final pick easy – there were only two compositions left that checked off all the boxes. First team would return Ranta home, and would consist of Yume, Mogzo, and Manato. Second team would press on. They'd be the leftovers, Mary, Haru, Shihoru and myself. Ultimately, as a tactician, this was the best I could come up with. The only interchangeable members were Yume and Haru, both being scouts and both filling the same role. That said, running with a party of only the girls seemed like a sleazy thing to do and Spectrum warned me once about never going full LN protagonist, so I opted to keep Haru at my side. Besides, I hadn't talked to him enough. And single-handedly killing the chest monster seemed like _something_ I should know about in more detail from what little details Manato told me.

That's where Yii showed up, explaining the holes in my understanding. _"Though Haruhiro didn't mention it by name, the ability is called the Line of Light by scribers of Grimgal's history archive."_ He calmly stated, at the side _. "It is the unique ability of a thief that is activated, very occasionally, through some sort of uncontrolled mechanism. Basically, a thief sees a line of light extending from a living thing's most vital area, called the Line, and anything whose Line has been cut by the thief's weapon dies instantly."_  
Wait – what? Haru has an insta-kill ability? Fuck me, I should have rolled thief. I'm guessing from that 'very occasionally' and vague parts of it all that it's simply not reliable to use. How did that even work anyhow? To instantly see how someone dies?  
 _"It's almost like a weaver of fate has decided to slice off the thread of life from it, and it just drops dead and lives no longer."_ Yii detailed to my question.

My mind was instantly attacked by images of… no artwork it looked like? Yii was showing me a drawing of Haru and Mary, there was even some English written on the side – but the art quickly shifted to another image before I could read in-depth.  
The next one seemed split into two, Haru and Mogzo running in panic from something. And to the side was something I couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of. I recognized a dagger in the image, maybe a mass of teeth in the background. One thing was clear, a line was guiding the blade into the darkness.

 _"I'll fill you more in the details of his unique ability as you continue your journey. But you can ask Haruhiro about it yourself as well, after some time pass and he understands his own power better."_ Yii finished, fading slowly, likely drawn into the debate going on behind us. His final words of advice were to keep a sharp eye over that thief, that when things are at their worst – Haru might just pull out a win.

I turned back to the present. Having an ace in the hole was good, but I'd rather win my battles by solid planning. My current plan didn't account for Last Fang yet. With her help, I could technically send Mogzo and Ranta off alone knowing they'd make it back safely. The group would certainly not understand that however. Pity – but, I could wiggle some members around without much suspicion depending on how I debated it.  
I broadened my thoughts and went from short term planning to long term effects and seeing if the plan would hold. Which is where I hit a disturbing wall.

The voices also had their plans ready and they'd gotten behind Spectrum's plan, though there was fierce debate. It seemed she'd also run into part of the same problem I had – which was the future.

 _"I want to bury this fight entirely."_ She ordered. _"Mimics should really not be that common and the location where we were wouldn't be hard to find out either if the necessary details about the mushrooms are included."_ The voice explained, hitting the same mark I'd run into. They'd been discussing on bringing back a part of it to boast with. But once the rest of the group showed up, they all closed ranks on this.  
Chaos didn't agree, Revya too. The angel spoke out, _"A simple Tale of Fighting and fending off a mimic while they were on their way picking mushroom. Just some Pieces of it legs or claw to show as proof that they manage to snatch before being force to retreat to treat a couple of their members, but not without doing some serious damage."_  
Lex put in his own coin, _"I'm in full agreement with Spectrum, bury this deep and never talk about it."  
_  
Revya conceded to all this. _"Alright, alright,"_ There was a pause. "… _But the mimic thing can be explain away as we found a chest/in the cave, doesn't mean we found that particular piece of booty. So we can take a piece, to prove we fought one, and did not make up a story to cover up a screw up they had. No need to had the fact they fought the mimic."_  
General, the new voice, jumped in then, focused on Spectrum's idea. _"This actually a very good point, at this time the group are still rookies even amongst other rookies. Having SB's group discovered to have taken on, survived, and killed something as powerful as this mimic was...would lead to some very unhelpful people looking their way."_

Revya argued back, _"Then just keep a claw and say they fought something and barely fought it off. No boasting, just show it to alchemist if they ask what took so long, or why are they wounded."_  
No that won't work, I thought. We don't want any part of this. Chaos backed me up, likely having been convinced, shutting down Revya and turning to the General. _"Please have a speech ready prepared to give to S.B on how to convince his party to shut their mouths, if you do not then I guess this Onee-chan can easily make one to convince everyone in the party or at the very least keep the tale humble,"_ She said with a wink.

I groaned. Do I look like a people person? Who here thinks I'm a people person? Hands in the air, let me get a count. Oh wait, no hands? Gee, clearly that means exactly what I thought it meant. Heh.

My personal public relations staff on the other hand didn't get my memo. General was all too excited about his new charge. _"Haha! You ask me to be dramatic?! So I shall!"_ He boomed, then turned right to me. Or at least, I had a feeling he was looking at me. _"Attention Catalyst, its is I, GENERAL SCRAGE!"_  
My eye twitched not have been a henchmen back then. I regret everything.  
 _"The fellows of your mind will that you converse with and discuss the possibility of dangerous things that may happen to your party if you reveal the full extent of your achievement. To that I say, NO. Do not do so! Convince your fellows to downgrade and diminish the overall battle against the mimic thing. A Victory worthy and proud is great! But so is a victory in silence and subterfuge! Know when to spread grand news and when to keep quiet is a valuable skill for anyone to learn. You are but still rookies, and while everyone does start out as such...it is dangerous in such a world that you find yourself in to spread such grand achievements around as inexperienced you are._ "

Talking to the converted here General, I've already run the math and it returns a clear negative on getting this out to the public. Goblin stories are in these days. Spiders? Gods? Giant evil chest monsters? Pssshhh, we'll put a pass on those. Still. Guess I'll have to talk to the team.  
Yii had his share to add in on this too _, "By the way, guys. Though some of you are (and rightfully) worried about untimely rumors circulating in town about the scale of the loots that we come across or the encounters that we keep surviving, I think it's at least safe to ask Yorozu for appraisal on certain unusual items, or for info on unique monsters, without fear of information leak. Though the circumstances under which you came across them/their knowledge will pique her interest, she'll keep it quiet if you request it."_

The banker was… an odd one. She didn't forget anything, which meant I was hesitant to share any details with her. Professional, sure. I could get behind that. Trustworthy? I just didn't know enough. Early on, I smuggled my extra ten silver in my boot since I knew she would easily be able to catch on. I shook my head, returning back to the topic. The problem didn't just end with keeping quiet on the mimic. But, first thing's first. I had to confirm exactly what I had to work with. I put the voices behind me and focused up front.

"Manato, how's Ranta's condition? Is it critical he gets back to the town right now, or can he survive for longer?"  
The priest took a glance over at the assembled group nearby.  
"He's… fine. He's been waking up here and there for only a few seconds. Mary explained that he'll need bedrest and food to recover the blood he's lost." He frowned at the next thought, "Could take a week even. He didn't stay down after we healed him, had to go and be a hero in front of Shihoru." The priest finished with a chuckle.  
"Can't imagine that." I grunted, "When I woke up, the world was spinning around and standing up was out of the question. I think I only got stabbed a few times, but he had his _guts_ ripped out. That's going to leave some trauma we'll have to heal," And I don't think there's a spell to fix that particular problem.  
 _"Let's not be hasty here,"_ Spectrum mentioned. _"Or rather, we can split the party but they don't need to make the trek back themselves just yet. Well, maybe."_  
I gritted my teeth. That's exactly the problem. I remembered the fight. When that creature caught Ranta and heaved the knight into its gullet, the only detail I remember was blood – a lot of it. I felt queasy trying to remember more details, so I pushed it out of my head. Maybe I had misjudged the lad. He might be an idiot, but he's at least a heroic one. If he pulls out of this one with his head in one piece, I'd actually be forced to respect him. Who'd have thought?

Manato nodded, motioning me to turn over. I complied easily, feeling much better.  
"You've also lost some blood too Silas, not as much, but a loss is a loss. Keep that in mind."  
"… I get what you're going for, but I think I can press on. Like Mary said, I'm a warrior right? We can't let dread knights show us up. That'd be just humiliating."  
Both of us grinned at that, then he helped me up with a clasp of his hand. In a moment, my gear was being handed over to me while I strapped it in piece by metal piece. With every addition, the only thought in my mind: _The blacksmith's going to seriously chew me out on this one._

I'm pretty sure the man specifically told me to quit throwing myself into dangerous shit. Not my fault this career has zero job security. And I don't mean the paperwork kind. The rest of spectrum's plan fritted through my mind.

"Right. If Ranta's fine for the next few hours then the second team should hold this ground here."  
Hold the camp, they said. Trap and spike the place up, they said. With what gear? Haru only knows how to lock pick things, and Yume barely knows how a bow works. Neither of them have tripwire or expensive gear like that. Usually any prolonged stay in the forest is considered a tragic quest – as in suicide. Not that I had a choice. The alternative was much worse, only not immediately obvious. I had half a mind to disobey the voices and order Last Fang to keep an eye on the camp team, but I stayed the course. Like me, they weren't planning for the short term. If I'd thought of it, they had too.

The leader of our little excursion didn't seem convinced by my most cunning plan. "That can't be a good idea. Every moment Ranta's out here, is another moment something could attack them while they're weak. And half the group won't be around to help."  
He was right of course. By his god, he was right on that. Last Fang could tip the tides over, but the voices had agreed it was better to have her follow the excursion group, and on a rational scale they were right. There's more danger in the unknown then back in the cleared out camp.  
"That's a risk I'm willing to take, taicho. If we return with half the group into town – there will be talk. We need to get back to town all together for reputation needs."  
That got a straight up glare from Manato. Here comes the disagreement. "You're keeping Ranta here because you're scared for our reputation? That's his life at stake – and everyone else who's protecting him! No reputation is worth keeping at the cost of our lives. How could you even consider that?"

That got a snarl out of me, "Listen Manato, it's simple: if you already know that the decisions you make will have heavy consequences, then stop worrying about them." That cut straight through him. A confused look crept over his face, he couldn't understand yet. I didn't relent either. "The consequences are fact; objective. You can write them out on a report, even in a list if you had to. If you start putting subjective emotion into it that just gives those consequences more significance than what they actually result. Leaving someone to die should be the same as choosing to steal someone's bread in your mind. Facts to gloss over and decide objectively."  
The priest looked me hard in the eye. "I can't agree. That's just.." He ended flatly, failing to convey the meaning and struggling to find the right words. I cut him off before he could rally.  
"And that's why I'm your second in command. You need me to make the hard choices you can't." I grunted, taking up my spear and preparing the armguard properly. "Think about it. If we have half the party return bringing back Ranta, they'll know we ran into a critical fight that needed him sent home immediately. We're a party of eight Manato. That's an army in Crimson Moon standards. Whatever we fought – it had to be big. That'll raise questions when we don't answer – and we won't, no, we _can't_ answer."

My hand grabbed his collar and yanked him forward. He needed to get this through his thick skull. "If we say we killed a chest beast, in addition to the public knowledge we fought off the undead – all in the first week – and we won? There will be people looking into us. Likely not the helpful type. House Tyule has deep connections with the Crimson Moon and they're a noble line steeped in war. They hear about this, you can bet they'll come to recruit us. Declining them will not go well for us either, the Tyule's have the weight to ostracize us from the merchants."

I sighed, letting him go. It's almost funny how a week ago this sort of thought wouldn't have even crossed my mind. Have I gotten older? This world was grinding me down. "We got lucky, and our luck's finite. Under Tyule, we'll surely have a few people die before they realize we're nothing special and let us go. And they're not the worst of it, there's plenty of other factions out there that would see us as a useful to them."  
"I… but, that's… they could die. If they're attacked while we're not around the-"  
"Then I took a gamble, and lost. That's on me. But if I order Ranta back home now, then we risk everyone on the team – not just a handful. So yes, I'll take the chance because the alternative is worse, even if it'll show up a lot later."

He stared at me hard then, searching.  
"You know I'm right." I glared back at him with everything I had.  
We watched each other in silence for an instant. He blinked first.  
"I just realized something about you that's been pulling at me this entire time." Manato suddenly noted.  
"Yeah? And what's that?"

He stood calmly, eyes narrowed down on my own. I'd never seen him like this.  
"You know Silas, I've known people that live without a brain in their heads like Ranta, but you are the first I've known to live without a heart in his chest." He stated emotionlessly.  
"Maybe yours is too weighed down to understand mine." I spat back just as tonelessly. But my return jab felt weak, even to me. He'd cut me down hard with his words. And the inner self-doubt he'd planted in me did the rest. Am I a psychopath? Are people's lives just another weight for a scale to me?

I didn't bother to argue with him more. I was right and he _knew_ it. If I have to worry about people dying from making a wrong choice, then I wouldn't be able to give any orders at all in a fight. Attacking me like this was downright petty on his part. I wasn't wrong. He was wrong. I **wasn't** wrong! The rest of the group had gone silent, they'd been listening in to our argument. But I was beyond that by now. Might as well accomplish another objective while I'm at it.

"Since you all heard me already, I won't repeat myself. We don't talk about this… _thing_ to anyone." I explained, jabbing my spear at the dead mimic. "We keep the gold we got to ourselves. Don't spend it all in one day, and don't go to the bank all on the same day. As far as anyone knows, we came into this forest, got the mushrooms and ran into some standard trouble that got a terribly unlucky hit on Ranta. Understood?"  
A few nods, some murmurs of agreement. I suppose it'll be enough. "We did good. Our predecessors were hardened criminals skilled enough to rob a Tyule convoy, and they not only failed to defeat this beast – but they lost two of their members trying. We came out much better. We survived and we're not going to stop that streak by letting politics be the ones stabbing us in the back."

The group seemed to rally a bit at my words. I might not be the friendliest guy right now, sure. But that job was Manato's, not mine.  
The party details filtered into my mind, it seemed Khiruki was the one in charge of that part.  
 _"Mogzo and Ranta are locked for party 2. Mary is going with them because I feel more comfortable with Manato in sight. Haruhito gets an early day off because he got stabbed. Also avoids the harem party coincidentally, which is always awkward to deflect comments on."_ The Alpaca disclosed calmly _._ I relayed the plan without delay.  
"We split the group in two. Second group stays here, fortifies the area and keep it safe until we get back. That'll be Mary, Mogzo, Ranta and Haru."  
They nodded solemnly.  
"As for you three," I barked, "I'll come back later with the mushrooms." My hand shout out and pointed directly at the thief. "You're in charge while we're away Haru. If I don't return an hour before sunset, you're to pack up and leave for town." The thief in question glanced upwards at me, completely confused. In another timeline, apparently you take over the group Haru. Maybe you can tap into that hidden potential. I didn't see it, but the voices were confident. They knew more than I did, I trusted them over my own judgment.

"Yume, Shihoru. Both of you are with me." I grabbed my spear, whistled it through the air and onto my shoulder where it locked into place. Then I glanced at the leftover priest. "You're also coming along." I finished. Not a suggestion. He only sheathed his staff, preparing to walk.  
"Sobato… scary." Yume murmured behind. Out of the entire group, she's the only one who bluntly refused to call me Silas. It wasn't cute, according to her. And she liked being the only one with the old nickname for me.  
"I'm fine being the scariest thing in this forest." I replied back with a chuckle, "That just means everything out there will think twice before messing with us." There was something off about me, I could tell. Manato's words must have rent into me deeper than I suspected.

No argument among the team at my command, though I could tell there was friction. Haru didn't understand why I hadn't taken Mary with me and left Manato instead as the leader. I knew he respected the priest much more than Mary. The thief clearly didn't feel comfortable around her, double so now that I'd loaded responsibility of Mary's life over his shoulders. I think only Mogzo and Yume felt comfortable around Mary right now.  
I'd been working on integrating her in little by little, small steps at a time. I hadn't forced her hand with Haru yet, so I could only hope she played nice. A dull headache pulsed lazily through my head as I thought about switching the teams. Hadn't I thought Mary shouldn't be separate yet? The voices probably thought I was too protective, they had an outsider's perspective. Right. That made sense.  
Yume seemed to feel off-place being sent onto the same team with me, especially after the fight between Manato and I where I usurped him. Temporarily.

Mary had her unreadable face as usual – no. _Shit_. A closer glance told me the whole story. Constant, nervous shifting glances at the dead corpse of the chest monster, as if expecting it to roll over and attack. And whenever not looking at that thing, glances in my direction. Almost… pleading. Tightly clenching hands over her staff. The way she kept that weapon close by her chest and ready to use.  
Mary was terrified of the monster. She was hiding it well. I suspect none of the party would ever notice above thinking she was being just nervous. Not me, I've gotten to know some of her tells by now. And here I was forcing her to stay behind, right by its rotting corpse, for the next few hours. Something must have happened while I was unconscious to have shaken her that bad. Manato seemed unphased about the dead monstrosity - and he was far newer to the priest business so it couldn't have been the gore they both saw. It had to be something after. But what? Everyone who fought the beast didn't seem too disturbed by it other than what I'd considered 'normal' so the monster must have attacked Mary at some point, or gotten close. What exactly had her so frightened? Or maybe, I underestimated her bond with the rest of us. Seeing Ranta and I get mauled like that could have shook her core. I don't think I'll find out until later tonight. God knows my sense of distress had been jaded down after Richard.

I internally recalculated the plan, but ran into another wall: it _had_ to be done. I couldn't explain it. The voices had given me the plan they wanted. Maybe…. Mary _needed_ to confront her fears. Yes, that must be it. It was a trial for her, of course! But this seemed too… cruel to me - even if I knew there was a reason behind it. _A harsh lesson for a harsh world_ , I reminded myself. Haru was being left behind with Mary for equally the same reason – they needed to be hardened. I nodded, putting the reasons together and rationalizing the choice.  
Mogzo seemed resigned to his fate looking over Ranta. But I could tell he wasn't bothered by the babysitting duty.  
Shihoru give the impression she was the only one content by my decision besides Mogzo, likely because she'd be in the same team as Manato. The girl had a soft spot for the priest, so I suspect.

They might not all agree with my plan, but they didn't know I had Last Fang. I needed Mary at the base camp since she could hold her own in a fight, as could Haru. I was bringing the weaker teammates with me, so I'd need Last Fang. Right. All part of the plan, I reminded myself. My head was pounding while I squished down every thought to switch Last Fang's protection. To switch the teams. To subvert the plan the voices made. It made sense I told myself repeatedly. We were walking into the unknown, we'd need Last Fang more than they did.  
I turned to the spider. The headache slowly faded.

 _You seem to have made your choice. Which group shall my brood watch over?_  
I thumbed my armor. She got the message. The away team was getting ready to leave now, but before that I spun my glance to the camp team.

There wasn't much time, so I'd need to delegate. "Once the camp is settled and you're sure there isn't any dangers – start looking into that thing and see if there's anything valuable to uncover."  
Haru nodded alongside with Mogzo, Mary however seemed to have gone completely pale at that. She shot a furious glance at the two, but neither seemed to say a word back. Her eyes roved over the group, but no one spoke up. A few seconds past, then the priestess turned and stared me directly. It took minimal effort to keep my face neutral, but damned well knew what was coming next here. First Manato, now Mary. I steeled my resolve.

"I don't think it's a good idea." She said flatly. There was several layers to that, I could tell. She wasn't just talking about the monster infested chest laying down ten feet away. "What if it's not dead?"  
 _If it's not dead… I'll return to an empty camp with the trees, rocks and ground painted blood red._  
I immediately thought through the plan again, looking for weak points. I hadn't seen the thing die. It certainly _looked_ like it could stand right back up again. But the voices were sure it was dead. They'd told me to check over the mimic, and they'd told me to keep the group here. That was non-negotiable, I obviously couldn't … just… but, I….yes, I can't. Why was I even thinking that I could? My headache returned with a flare, it was… hard to think things through. The mutterings seemed to claw at my mind until I put aside the renegade disloyal thoughts.

"Fine, I'll put my mouth where my hands are. I'll make sure it's dead myself." I snapped, stalking forward to the dead beast shield and spear drawn. "Silas!" the priestess shouted behind me. I stopped in my tracks.  
"Can't you… reconsider?" She asked, a tinge of anxiety colored her voice but I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination.  
"Worried it might turn around and chomp down on me?"  
"..." She didn't answer. Which was answer enough.

I closed my eyes and took a breath to calm myself down. When I opened them again, I was in control. "You're right. I'm on edge." I told her. I glanced down to the monster. "…We do this by the book. Mogzo, with me. Haru, circle around, Yume and Shiharu stick with the priests in the back line and arm weapons. Keep a position around Ranta, if it does wake up you grab the dread knight and bail. We'll hold it off here." I didn't need to raise my voice. It was Richard I was channeling.

In seconds, the team followed through without hesitation. Mogzo and I advanced slowly. My voice turned to my comrade "We're going to target the joints and cut through each leg." I explained while we both stalked forward. "Alternate between defending the other and attacking. I'll go first." An easy drill we'd done during training and we'd pull it off flawlessly by now.

In a moment, we reached attack distance. Then I swiped forward. The spear cleaved through the air and sunk deep into the monster's armored leg, sinking into the joint. It wasn't enough to slice the leg, but as I took a back step a huge two handed sword swung down finishing the job. No reaction from the monster as its cut leg fell on the ground. Not even a twitch.

There was no blood. Instead, the leg evaporated slowly in black mist, dissipating into the air. It looked almost like… shadowy ash floating away. Took another tense three minutes before the last leg had been sliced off. The only thing that remained of the creature was its shell and exposed maw. "Stay calm, remember it spawned legs on demand." I ordered.

The backline remained tense, watching their warriors whittle down the beast. I struck my spear into one of the thing's extended jaw, cutting it off. A fleshy bit filled with teeth at every angle fell down to my side, but it didn't evaporate like the legs. Instead some sort of purple blood was leaking out. "I think we found the nerve." I grunted out to Mogzo as he swung his sword into the thing's head.

In a few minutes, I yanked the rest of the mutilated body out of the chest, and dove my spear through what was likely its throat, pinning it to the ground.  
"Well. We can probably safely assume it's not coming back." I patted my spear to reinforce the idea. We carried on with the operation.

The inside the chest was a mess of gore and ligaments. Had it been blood red I might have puked. As it was, it looked more like rotten meat and purple sludge, which made it simply surreal. Smelled something foul too, but not enough to throw me off.  
Arbit was on my side, explaining in detail that I should take the meat and _cook_ it. Feed it to some rat and see if it doesn't die. He wasn't joking either, the voice was dead serious.  
Chaos _agreed_ with Arbit on that too, which only shocked me further. "Also no whining S.B about cooking the crab thing, our Master Chief Arbit work very hard giving you recipes from the archives, I am sure he can help give advice on how to cook the damn thing..."  
Are you fucking serious?!  
"Plus I heard crab taste good, it try to eat you so it is only fair that you now eat it... after testing it on the rat you have laying around to see if it survives the night."  
WHAT. I, respectfully, seriously object violently to all this! Someone, say something here. This is going to be the stupidest way to die. How's letting a rat test it first going to do much anyhow? They're completely different animals to humans here!

I took a second glance at the entrails that remained here. My opinion did not change for a second.  
Spectrum had my back, _"Wait what the fuck. Why are you people suggesting trying to eat a mimic? Let's NOT do that. That just ain't gonna end well."_  
'End' was a good word for it. I don't think it'll be a particularly fast end either. The General was on my side for this too, _"Lady Chaos, your suggestion to eat the flesh of...the fallen foe is in essence a worthy idea. For such a beast is unlikely to be...palatable to humans. Were it possible for a spell or other item of wizardry to determine its viability as a food source I would agree to the action."_  
Wait. You'd _agree_ to eating this if it was proved part of a balanced breakfast? You can't be serious here!  
 _"As it is...I fear that it will not be a good or reasoned idea. To ingest the fallen and gain their strength is a time honored practice! But this beast is...unworthy in my eyes."_  
Thank you! Common sense was lacking right now. Besides, my team would seriously kick me out if they saw me trying to eat this thing too.  
Chaos didn't budge. She just plowed on through, _"Worry not! As an angel of God I have the wisdom to prepare the proper precautions against any underhanded trick from this creature."_  
Don't sprout things that might kill people you chunnin! I know you all can just appear as whatever you want to look like, don't think I'm fooled for a moment! You're plotting to kill me here and ship me to Valhalla or something!  
 _"S.B still has the Rat at home right, let cook some and feed the meat to it first. Arbit will be sad but if the rat does not survive the night or perishes then we can always keep the meat wrapped away to use against our enemies."_  
Oh would you look at that. Mr. Whiskers just accidentally got himself stabbed, in the future. Gee, wonder how that happened. Guess he's dead now though so naturally we can conclude it's the meat that was cause of death. _"Anyways the shell should fetch a good reward if He does not find anything of worth from the chest or it's corpse!"_  
I pushed the thoughts and voices out of my mind. Needed to do this right, stay with me my dwindling sanity.

"Link up to me." I muttered under my breath to a very specific part of my armor.  
 _I am here. What did you need?_  
Is there anything we can recover from this?  
 _If there were any treasure left, it's likely floating on the other side. Where the beast's true body lays. What you killed was an extension of it. That realm is not something humans survive in._  
Well fuck. So we fought it for nothing?  
 _I believe the teeth may be worth something. The nightmare could riven metal with ease using them after all._  
Great. I'm sure that'll go over well with the group.  
 _In addition, its heart may be worth something. It is after all, a relic enchanted by the deathless king. Only a few hundred exist. Your thief cut through the connection between the void and this world, it might no longer be working but perhaps human magic still has a use for it._  
How's the heart look like?  
 _Inorganic. It will look like a black stone orb._  
Ahh fuck me. Guess I'll root it out the good old fashioned way.

I stuck my spear into the chest and wiggled it around, cutting through tendons and the like until I hit something hard. I dragged it to the edge and pulled it up using my spear as a glorified spoon. True to her word, it was a black gem the size of my hand. Perfectly polished and round. It should be safe, right?  
 _Yes. I know of its function, I do not see where a trap could be. The king was many things, but inefficient was not one of them. Everything he did had a strict purpose and no other._

I grabbed the orb and pulled it out. "I think this is probably the best we'll find. Whatever treasure was in here's been long digested by it." I glanced over the group. "The teeth might be worth something, we can rip them off and keep them for a rainy day. As for the rest of it…" I thought. Only one thing came to mind. "We burn it."  
In the end, it was Manato who purified the beast. The priest spell did its work, cleanly scorching the corpse in seconds, without so much as a lick of smoke. Soon, the remains were nothing but a pile of ash and bad memories. I hoped that would be enough to steel Mary's heart on staying behind here.

I dragged Haru alone after. I needed to talk to him, and I wouldn't get another chance once I was gone. While the away team prepared their gear for the next mission, Haru had to be briefed. "You're probably wondering why I had you stay behind." I told him, cutting straight to the meat.  
The thief looked me over, "Y-yeah." He took a pause, then spoke. "Listen, Silas, I'm… I'm not a leader. I only know Mogzo, and I haven't been exactly uh, friends with Mary. I don't even know if she'll even follow anything I say!"  
I took a breath, and drew in whatever was left of my spirit.

"I'm not doing this for nothing." My handws clasped his shoulders firmly and I stared him dead in the eyes. "Listen, this might sound like boasting but trust me when I say it's not: The group relies on Manato and I too much. You can tell can't you? So what happens if we're both knocked out? What happens if the worst comes by?"  
He gulped.  
"That's right." I answered, "I need to plan for even that event. You've got a defensive location here. The worst you can run into would be a goblin group and we've fought off plenty before. You'll be here for only a few hours, not a whole day. And you've only got Mary and Mogzo to worry about instead of a full-fledged team. When it comes to getting practice holding a group together, this is the best chance you'll ever have. I'd rather you learn now then have the world force it on you at the worst time."  
"But - But Mary would make a much better leader then I would!"  
"And that's _exactly_ why I'm having you take the lead on this one. Listen to me Haru, you hear that voice in your head that's telling you that you're no leader? Grab it. Draw it out."  
He nodded slowly, I followed through. "You know what that is? That's **you**. Your fears, your doubts, your insecurities all ready to cut you down at the slightest mistake. While they're not easily beat down, they're not invincible either. Remember that. Don't cut yourself short. I know you're a hard worker Haru. Don't think I haven't noticed."

I dropped my hands, taking a step back.  
"Luck is the last dying wish for those who believe success can happen by accident Haru. Effort, on the other hand, is for those who know it's a choice. You and I both know which side of the coin you're on. So when your moment comes and a thousand different voices are drowning you down telling you can't do it, that you're not ready – listen instead to one voice. That one that's saying: 'You're ready enough.'"

I dragged my bag over my shoulder, affixing the straps correctly. "Take this time to get to know yourself some more. You might be surprised at what you find." Then I turned back to the waiting group. "I'm done! Let's head out!" I commanded, making my way into the forest without a pause. General direction said north, so north we went. The rest of the away team fell behind my stride, leaving behind the unconscious Ranta and his security detail. I muttered a quick prayer to whatever god was listening that we wouldn't return to an empty camp. I could die and return to life apparently because of the voices. But none of the others could.

Manato and I discussed for a moment while we hiked side by side. He questioned me on my choice of bringing him with me. I told him the same thing I'd told Haru. Once I did, he nodded.  
"Good." The priest said. "I was worried you'd brought me along as some sort of power move."  
I laughed at that, "Of course I did taicho, got to keep an eye on the nefarious priest least he usurp me from my throne, eh?" A sigh from me, "No, it's a hard choice I had to pull. I know. Believe me, I'm not too keen on doing this again, but facts are facts. You asked me to make the best choice, this is it."  
"I don't like it," The priest muttered, "But… I did say I'd trust you once. I won't back down from that. I just hope nothing wrong happens."  
You and me both. But of course, I didn't say that.  
"Yume thinks you're right too Sobato, but Yume's not really smart about all that, naa? Yume's… just worried you forget about us sometimes, naa?"  
"Forget?" I replied back, questioning.  
"Hmmm, Yume doesn't know how to explain it very well. It's like… hmm, Yume's not just a bow and arrow, naa? And Mary isn't just a healer, Mary's super adorable! She even praised Yume and Shihoru today!" The hunter giggled, wrapping an arm around her fellow startled mage. "But… Sobato just sees a healer sometime and not... Hmm."  
"I think… I get what you're going at. Do you think I was too hard on people?"  
The hunter shook her head, "Yume doesn't know. Maybe you're right. But Yume doesn't want to be forgotten." She answered sadly.

My feet sunk into the mud by an inch, but I kept my pace and moved forward. It would be another hour before we reached anything significant. Turned out, part of the path we were planning to take had been unnavigable because of a landslide. We had to take a detour around. Which lead us off the track and deeper into uncharted territory.

All the while the voices gossiped around me. For some reason, the next plan they wanted to do was slip Ranta a gender-changing potion while he recovered. Can't say I wasn't against that completely, I thought it'd be the perfect medicine for him. Maybe not doing it while he was down though. I'd rather prank him correctly, you know? The alpaca of all the voice agreed with that, though it was on the moral side of it. "...Can we not fuck with somebody's body using drugs as a prank? It's not funny and definitely crosses some lines."

… He had a point. But the antidote is pretty simple anyhow, the potion was mostly harmless I thought. But doing it right after all… this didn't seem like the time for it. Should save this trick for another time when the party mood was better and we weren't struggling. And more importantly, that Ranta could actually _walk_ himself outside into the moonlight.  
Lord Bleeding Heart was all over that too, _"Redhead Chaos Knight Tsundere."_ He said flatly, an image of a red "DENIED" stamp over Khiruki's argument. _"She will fight with Kate over SB's affection points. Both missing the point and scale of competition by a wide margin."_ Yii and him were full tilt behind that plan, crazy bastards.

I ignored that last bit of course, for the sake of my dying sanity. The problem was the potion wouldn't fix his looks see. No potion could fix that, though illusion magic was supposedly the answer here, if gossip was right. There's a reason all the nobles are supposed to look divine. And it's probably got a lot to do with how deep their pockets were when it came to cosmetics.

Revya did have something different to add once the discussion over screwing with Ranta ended, _"You really don't get how, frustrating it is to not be at full power, do you S.B."_ He sighed. I snickered. Full power? As far as I could tell from our last spar, you might be a trans-dimentional being with all the shenanigans that followed, but you fought like a regular person who'd been just handed a sword. The voice clearly resented that accusation.  
 _"We are fragments of ourselves in this world, and as fragments we can't act as we are used to. I may be making threats that don't seem possible or even something I can do."_  
That's putting it mildly. The voice brushed right past that, _"But I make them so you understand, that we don't like not being able to feel the world through our own senses."_  
Oh. I understand now. You're… basically talking smack to me again, aren't ya? You know, if you guys could beat me up senseless in your own world at the top of your power, that's not much of an incentive to help you get there. I wiggled my eyebrows at him. I'm absolutely fine dragging you down to my level and beating you up with my experience, as the saying goes.  
 _"When we weren't like this we could topple Kingdoms, and Rearrange the landscape as we wish though in differing ways."_  
Yes, fire and brimstone. All that good stuff. I shrugged at that. Who could tell? The voices seemed more powerful then I could ever comprehend, but at the same time just as weak as any other person. Yii and Lex were the only two I thought different. Yii for sure was a warrior of some kind, and Lex clearly was a CEO of some sort. The rest felt like they were normal people.

Naw, they were totally insane too. Who am I kidding? Arbit and chaos wanted me to _eat_ a rotting monster that was trying it's hardest to eat _me_. And only after feeding it to a rat to see if Mr. Whiskers keeled over or not. These people were straight up mad scientists. Lord Bleeding Heart and a few others were _shipping_ me with gender-bent Ranta – which I have tried my hardest to prune the mental images out of my head. One-oh-three was a penguin with a knife, and we also had an Alpaca that liked to puke rainbows. Sanity's for the weak anyhow, who needs it?  
 _"So know this,"_ Revya continued, bringing me out of the clouds. _"You are OUR Vassal in this world as such we will do everything in our power to ensure your health and success. Because as you gain strength and fame we grow in power as well. For we could easily made you a puppet, but chose not to, for you see when we found you we saw our younger selves."_

I thought about it. You know, I might actually be older than them come to think of it. I certainly wasn't a teenager at least, but pegging down my actual age would be difficult with the lack of memories to draw on. Food for thought. Either way, drop on by my dreams again Revya. I'm pretty sure the therapist recommended dealing out some ass-kicking as stress relief for me. Heh.  
Then I felt a fan by my side. "S.B." She spoke. "I've been letting you off for now, but it does seem like you need more training. ...I do have something in mind now."

Fuuuuuuuuck. Revya I could handle. Spectrum was a whole other sack of potatoes. Worse, I felt the other voices pitching in and planning something evil. _"Hoho, Catalyst, you still have much to learn. But Revya is correct in our strength being...lacking. THUS YOU MUST BE STRONG FOR US! Humanity Invictus at all costs."_  
And the General was joining in on the fun too. Revya on his part just floated upwards, and far away back to the first group.  
I felt a bit of relief knowing someone was back there watching over.

Another half hour passed unproductively debating with the voices before we ran into something.  
The pillars were intricately carved, even the site's ancient battle against time couldn't erode that workmanship. Plenty of the structure was broken down, vines constricting the rock over years. The roof had long since caved in, leaving the inside filled with light beams in the dust. There was a feeling around the place, like the magic in the air hadn't faded quiet yet.

We didn't know who built this ruin. We didn't know when it had been built. Last Fang informed me it was here when she arrived.  
And she hadn't ever set even a single leg nearby, unwilling to anger any deity.  
There was one thing clear to all of us here however, this ruin was once a shrine. This was especially clear, when we saw the broken statue of what was once, undeniably, a massive wolf.

* * *

Author's Note: **On the desk since it's an inside joke,**

I resolve all combat using a dice, skewed lightly with stats for characters. That why fights are a lot more chaotic and brutal.

Also, Players that are active in this story (A.K.A the voices) follow a very simple four point rule on _what_ they actually are - _and they don't know these rules._ So they're constantly experimenting and trying to see just how far they can get away with things - I've got to recheck those four rules all the time to see if what they're trying to do fits with what they are. They've done some things I wouldn't have expected which were fair game and I'm amazed they haven't killed S.B. by accident already - though they've gotten **real** close several times so far.

They've been pretty desperate on figuring out those four points and getting it wrong plenty of times over. Since they decided to be cheeky infiltrating S.B.'s dream and turn it into a nightmare to write (Which I was not expecting them to do), I dangled the four rules right in front of their faces. Along with every other mystery in the world, just to fuck with them some more.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's note: Should probably detail why S.B. gets real bad delusional headaches sometimes - Players get together and give S.B. 'orders' on a majority vote. Once picked, those orders **cannot** be undermined. If they'd ordered him to kill his whole team in cold blood - S.B. would do it, and would find a way to rationalize it in his mind as well. (He'll likely go literally insane trying - BUT I DIGRESS.)

Little tidbit about that power: Orders put on S.B. by the players supersedes every sort of mind-control **in the world** , except for one. So if someone's trying to put a compulsion on S.B. and that compulsion conflicts with S.B.'s given orders, it's going to be painful but the orders will win out. _That includes S.B. himself._ If he decides the orders were a terrible idea, he'll break down with a headache until his mind re-shapes itself to rationalize the choice somehow. Hence what happened last chapter.

* * *

 **O-O-O-W-O-O-O**

" _That could have gone better_." Lex sighed at the left. _"_ _First thing we do when we get back, after taking care of Ranta, is having a good, long heart-to-heart with Manato, we can't let that fester. And then discreetly talk to Mary, she usually goes to the tavern at night. Hell, so does Manato."_

I nodded discreetly. Dealing with these sorts of problems were uncomfortable, but I've never had any problems confronting anyone so far. I'd rather talk some more with Manato later today and get this sorted out. The other three were following behind me calmly enough, but I could tell energy was on the low. It'd been a pretty heavy trek up till now. Following beast trails, getting lost, fighting against the encroaching low hanging branches, and so forth. It went by fast enough as the voices kept me entertained.

General was apparently an oversized lizard that ate questionable things, which is why he was backing the minic-eating idea earlier only if there were enough vitamins to replace the orange juice of that continental breakfast. His words exact here, _"_ _I have, also, incidentally been a Utah Raptor from time to time. Pure Carnivore with some squishy fruits and veggies on the side. I prefer offerings of bacon, sometimes eggs and pancakes, chocolate, and should you ever offer me a pear I will do my very best to annoy you for a while."_

By the time we arrived to the shrine, the four of us were more exhausted then if we'd actually kicked off a fight with the neighbors. Walking into the ruins and the clearing they offered gave us all a chance. All the while, Revya was seething in the back at my last bout with him. _"_ _I hope you enjoy that smugness for now, we have figured out the kinks in the Dream training."_ He muttered.  
What's this I hear? Hark, do my ears deceive me or do I hear loser talk?  
 _"_ _We will be testing them on you I hope you like having little good sleep SB."_  
I waved them off, reaching the ruins proper. My options for tonight will probably involve finding a draught of dreamless sleep or something. Or I'd buy a pear and threaten General with it.

Arbit on his side of things was ecstatic I'd called him a mad scientist, and also explained how rotten things are often eaten from their world, some as a delicacy even. Morally, it was completely in their right to ask me to eat that chest monster thing.

"Looks like a clear enough place to set camp for now," I addressed the mini-team. Shihoru slumped straight down, sighing contently.  
Manato on his part looked agitated. "We shouldn't stop, longer we take the bigger a chance something happens back at the camp."  
Oh dear. This again. Spectrum appeared on the side, coughing out in an unusual accent, _"_ _Fookin' bleedin' heart..."_ She grumbled.  
Yea. You're telling me.

 _"_ _Don't worry about it SB. Manato still hasn't learned all of the right lessons, but that's why you're the second-in-command while he's still the leader."_  
I shrugged at that. I don't want to think about what sort of event he'd have to go through to learn that lesson – or if it'd be healthy in the first place. _"_ _Beyond that, you didn't talk about how tactically it also wasn't necessarily the best idea for them to be moving -anyway-. Moving with only three capable people makes them a more vulnerable target, since they could have tripped into any number of different encounters on their way back, and they would have then been fighting not on prepared ground and possibly without anywhere safe for Ranta to have been placed."_  
Hey, I thought. If you think of it as a graph, getting Ranta home would be a flat danger level. Whereas staying in camp started at much lower danger and would ramp up as the hours went by. At some point, it's more dangerous to stay in one spot in the forest then it would be to spend returning home.

I thought some more, but realized it was a mute point anyhow. The choice had been picked already. _"_ _Just keep that in your back pocket for later. Unfortunately, the way you said things makes it look like you were only concerned about rep and later on and it was the obvious immediate benefit to send Ranta back when that wasn't even the case."_  
Lex agreed with Spectrum on that, "You just pulled a Ranta here, fabulously rational argument, delievered in the most aggravating manner as possible."  
That got a confused wince from me. Ranta pulls off rational arguments? I shook it out of my head, focus. All right, I fucked that up with Manato. I'll have to figure out a way to fix it like we discussed earlier. Felt another voice sigh next to me, _"_ _Empathy and being social really is the bane of us isn't it?"_ It whispered. Psh. I'm clearly model citizen material, what are you talking about?  
 _"_ _Also in any other time I would suggest stay and meditate here for a bit. But since we are in hurry to finish and go home and with current tense condition of the party, it's just not the time. Unless you have good reasons besides "treasure", "Shiny", and "gut feeling", please don't stay lest you risk another fight with Manato."_ At this point, there had been so many voices appearing and disappearing I couldn't tell if it was a new one or one I'd simply forgotten about.

I'd agree to that, but we needed a break. The rest of the voices were in agreement on my thoughts. I'll have to risk another fight with Manato, but I'm reasonably certain about getting the point across this time.  
I planted my spear into the ground, let down my shield and bag. Then turned and assured the priest, "Manato, think about who we left behind." I didn't want to just flat out insult our mage and hunter here. But overall, the team we left behind were our best and I'm pretty sure Manato knew that deep down. "I'd be more worried about something bad happening to us than them." I concluded easily enough.

He looked me over sharply, but nodded grudgingly. "Fine. But let's keep this as short as we need to."  
The priest kneeled down and began to meditate, drawing on his sun god. I turned my gaze to Yume and gave a short nod. On her part, the hunter returned a wide smile and stalked off into the forest.  
"Remember, you don't have Haru behind you Yume. Stay safe."  
"Got it~" She sang out, already disappearing into the shrubs.  
"I'm serious! Yell and start running back if you get into trouble!"  
"Ehehehe, Sobato is also adorable~yan. Don't worry! Yume thinks she's good at this!" I heard her voice over the bushes, though not even a wisp of hair to be sighted.

I sighed. You're moving so fast I can hear every twig and such snapping.  
Rag appeared as that line-like ghost. "Oh, hey, Silas! Not sure if my last message went through. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be jumping into his team's heads and seeing if I can dig through their memories as they sleep."  
I remember talking to him about that. Chance of success: 0%. But I wished him luck with that. He was literally trying to jump into their dreams and recover spells, skills, and such out of them to ferry over to me.

I turned to the leftovers. Which meant just me and Shihoru since Manato was deep in meditation. She had her eyes glued on his face, but immediately turned them down on the ground the moment she caught me watching. A deep blush of red spread over her cheeks, to which she tried to hide with her hands a moment too late.

"Aa-hhh, It's- It's not wh-what it looks like!" She yelped out, flinching under my gaze. Seriously. This was straight up entrapment. I wouldn't be me if I didn't tease this.  
"Well, well well. Is this a romance subplot I smell?" My feet took me closer over to the cringing mage before I sat down next to her.  
"It's not! Y-you're mistaken!"  
I gave a knowing hum, which only made her roll up into herself.

"Silas." Manato said, one eye open. "Quit teasing Shihoru."  
Our mage had practically curled herself into an upright ball at this point out of embarrassment.  
"Besides, she's not even your type." He finished.  
It took a moment for the last bit to sink in, but the mage quickly sighed a breath of relief when she realized Manato had misunderstood who I was teasing her about. Could it be – that you're actually a dense protagonist Manato?! All the signs were there, how could I have been so blind!  
"Che, you're no fun." I groaned out, sitting up and grabbing my bag and spear. "I'm going to explore the ruins a bit, see if I find something interesting. I'll yell if I find something that wants to eat my face off."  
"All right, stay safe." Manato answered, both eyes closed.  
"Always. Shihoru, Yume's scouting around so chances are low something pops out, but make sure you get my attention if something does. I'll be close enough."

The mage nodded back, staff in hand. I grinned evilly at her next, "Since you're the only one with eyes open for now, keep a close watch over Manato. That's an order~" Her blush returned full force. Shihoru, you're seriously too easy to tease! I approached the ruins, where Chaos took a spot to walk alongside.  
 _"_ _S.B! I am kind shock you did not think I have your best interests in heart,"_ She gave a pout, arms crossed over her chest.  
"What, this about eating that mimic?" I muttered. "Wait - where's the shock come in anyhow? You try eating putrid purple decaying meat. I'll even be nice and let you add ketchup."

The angel simply shifted the conversation. _"...hey...about what issues you might be feeling right now about Manato..."_  
"What about him?" I sighed wearily. For some reason I dreaded what was going to come next. Either pity or a rebuke, and neither were what I wanted to hear right now.  
 _"_ _Please understand that he did not mean it - Actually he probably only meant it in that heated moment but understand this: He is wrong!"_  
"I know he's wrong!" I fumed a little loudly. "Everyone's wrong at some point."  
 _"_ _You have a heart, the fears of your insecurities about wondering about the group's opinion, your concern, fears and the pain that rip into your soul at back when Ranta was attacked. The determination you had to save him. The bonds of understanding and concerning for Mary's anxiety while other commander I seen would just scoff. You on the other hand try to understand her worries because you care about her, because you consider her a friend despite only know her less than a week."_  
She continued to reassure me and add advice on dealing with the situation, prodded along with Arbit and even one-oh-three joined in too.

My heart just wasn't into it. Was I sulking? Absolutely. Probably not justified in sulking around either, but I didn't want to re-open this topic. It'd been hours ago and I just wanted the whole thing put behind me. Sometimes, I just wanted a bit of quiet in my own head.  
That new voice in the back popped up to the front, _"_ _What chaos said Little Sillas, you maybe a little...pragmatic, still you care about your friends right? Everyone is stressed due to your another bloody experience, so it's probably affect everyone including you. For now just focus the task in hand, okay?"_  
"Fine, fine, I just need to process it all a bit."  
 _"_ _You're a good boy Sillas, a good kind-hearted and bit socially awkward but lovable boy"_

I was about to throw back a biting retort to that, full of wit and the good stuff when I felt Last Fang's relay spider vanish. Elise quite literally jumped off my armor.  
 _I do not meddle with gods._ She lectured quickly. _And neither would the Ash Huntsmen._ The spider reeled down to the ground, and quickly vanished into the undergrowth. Ah. I must have gotten too close to ruins by now.  
"Guessing you'll hitch a ride again once I'm out."  
 _Of course._

Curt and to the point. Last Fang clearly wasn't a fan of these ruins, or any ruins for that matter. I shrugged and took a step onto the stone. Suddenly I was zapped by the force of a thousand suns and burned to death immediately as a heretic.

Just kidding. Nothing happened.

I took a few more steps into the ruins when another new voice showed up to the side. _"_ _Hay SB you know about the goblins? How do you feel about kidnapping goblin young and raising hem to be cannon fodder?"_  
"What the actual fuck?"  
 _"_ _What. The. Fuck."_

Lex and I both said at the same moment. New voice just went right over that. "... um I'm kind of amoral?" The voice explained itself. Great. It began explaining a chemistry set for bomb making using gunpowder next. I've seen bombs and the like already on the plaza market. That said, the new voice's methods were straight up insane, making Saltpeter on my own was straight up nasty. I very quickly muffled the voice down.  
"Ignore the crazy ones," Lex said to my side.  
"Three dozen voices in my head, that's easy enough to do."

The shrine itself wasn't big. Rather, it was simple in structure. Which explains why it had survived the test of time to this degree. Stone groundwork, a few pillars which likely held a roof. No walls that I could see. Quite a lot of the inside was obsidian, which gave the shrine a darker feel once you stepped into the inner reaches. In combination with the grey stone, it had a rather momentous beauty in a minimalist style. That most of the shrine had been slowly eroded over by time and roots only added to the effect. Walking through the hallowed space felt like I was walking into a small world frozen in time.

In front, what had once been a huge wolf statue remained. Its head had fallen off and lay in a few pieces before its paws. Looking further into it, it might have even been deliberate. I'm not much of a religious person, but we're in a world with goddamn magic. So when it comes to gods I'd rather err on the side of caution and say _Yes, they probably do exist._ And they're not to be fucked with.  
Yii appeared to the side, flipping through books left and right. Apparently he'd turned into a historian of sorts, and gave a full fledged detailed report on a few gods of the elves, who were most likely to be the creators of this shrine. It was rather loaded with all sort of information ranging from history to approaching elven towns on the northern reaches.

Spectrum seemed to survey the sight with a calculating glance. _"_ _Let's see. I'd be shocked if this shrine wasn't connected to Eldritch and the den-mother in some fashion. You've been mostly a good citizen, so it should be safe to..."  
_  
A familiar alpca appeared at the side, "Best just be polite and unobtrusive; you still have mushrooms to pick." Said Khiruki.  
"That's what I'm thinking right now."  
 _"_ _Sometimes, I feel like some people just need to take it easy occasionally, yanno?_ _Shit, how did that old guy describe it? Three paths of directing energy: positive, negative, and neutral. Positive is actively pushing; attacking, advancing forwards, a fan favorite around here with all the plans for dream training and going out and doing so much stuff. Negative is pulling; evasion, avoiding conflict, and retreating. Bravely running away, and escaping troublesome situations. Then there's neutral; waiting and watching. Well, the point I was gonna make was, you don't always need to do something. In this case, it's fine to just acknowledge the god, leave a quick prayer, and go back to your trip. No need to poke the god or run away."_

Looked like all the other voices were in agreement. Stop by, offer a short prayer and tidy up the place a bit before jumping ship.  
I explored around the shrine some more, looking for a suitable space to set myself down. On the trail, I had another voice show up in my head. _"_ _Good day SB!"_ It said cheerfully.  
"Are you an insane voice, or a normal one?" Had to get that question off quickly. The last one was going into all sorts of weird places.  
"I'm a new voice that decided to join in to provide what minuscule help I can!" It answered in response. _"_ _Please feel free to call me Mochi, I'm filled with lots of tasty goodness inside!"_

Well. We had animals, angels, CEO's, Bleeding Hearts, what we were missing was talking food of course. I was almost like that balloon vender, trailing behind him a dozen wildly shaped vessels.

 _"_ _As a new voice, I will refrain from giving you any big suggestions till I get a better idea of what's going on, however a minor suggestion I do have would be considering the possibilities of making the mimics teeth into daggers for each member of the party, thus allowing for these daggers to both serve as a backup weapon as well as a symbol of the team."_  
"Not bad. Not bad at all actually," I thought over the teeth. Getting them fashioned to daggers would be interesting to do. There were only a few that were large enough to fit that criteria. And the material was harder than metal, so getting it into shape might be a challenge to the blacksmiths. But… should be looked into.

I set my spear down, kneeled down on both legs into a comfortable sitting position shifting my bag until I was cleared. Then clapped my hands and muttered, "Unknown god who owns this shrine, we mean no disrespect in our trespass over your lands. Please grant us safe passage. So be it."  
I'm not exactly all that good on the whole prayer thing, sue me. I figured if there were gods, they're probably rational enough to let things slide. If I were a god, I'd put the stamp of approval on that without much thought. Just a bunch of local Crimson Moon rookies passing by, harmless. After this, I'd tidy up the place a bit as a return and I'd expect everything to be swept under the rug. What I didn't expect was an answer.

"So what will you give in return for that passage?" A man's voice replied behind me. My hair stood up on end, and a spun my head around dumbly.  
Behind me was an unapproachable youth sitting lazily on one of the ruined walls. Although _human_ youth would not be my first go-to description. For one, he had ears. I'm not talking about the regular human pair – he had those too. I'm talking about the two black wolf ears, all the more obvious given his bundled hair. Clothes were plain, a kimono of sorts, yet he wore it with the regal bearing of a king. A long midnight dyed tail swirled behind, forming shadows with every motion. By itself, it was almost mesmerizing.

I swallowed nervously. You don't meet a guy like this in the middle of a deserted shrine. You don't meet a guy with a genuine wolf tail and matching ears either. Math was always my strong suit see, and clearly running the numbers here equaled something supernatural. I'll run that again for good measure, but I'm reasonably sure we done stepped over another anthill again.  
"Are you the god of this shrine?" I asked, remaining polite. My spear was easily in reach, and the man was disarmed. I flicked a glance over his hands, noticing _sharpness_ at the tips. But further glances only showed regular, if not flawless, fingernails. That didn't stop me from seeing _sharpness_ there. A feeling, gut instinct perhaps. I don't know how, but I knew he could make some deep rips in wood with a lazy swipe.

"Ha! If I were, I wouldn't be here in this dump." He grimaced impishly. "No, I'm just this shrine's guardian. Cursed to tend over this derelict junk of rocks for eternity, while my master's bitch of an enemy hides it from the world. It's exactly as fun as it sounds. Now, what I wonder is how you slipped by her concealment. I'm really hoping you brought me something."  
He elegantly leaped down, falling a good ten feet without so much a misstep or even much of a sound. The man's next strides were in my direction. I'd have taken a step back defensively, but something kept my feet rooted and the thought outside my head.  
"Hmmm, I smell it from even here. Why don't you show me what's in your bag?" His eye glinted blue for a moment.

I glanced around me, trying to find what he mentioned. Then I followed the gaze into my bag and withdrew the abyssal orb we'd recovered from the mimic.  
"This thing?" I observed questioningly, holding the item out. That seemed to excite him enormously.  
The wolf man barked out happily, "Yes, that's his! Hahaha! I can't believe that worked, took long enough to sneak it here. Didn't expect it to get carried by a human of all things, but I'll take what I get!"  
In a moment, the wolf-man was too close for comfort, looking over the orb without touching it.  
"Good, good. You didn't ruin it either, I'd have been pissed if you did."  
Then the man took a step back, and addressed me. "That orb is mine. I spent a long time nudging the critter in my direction. You just happened to intercept my package early. But I'll be fair and pay you for expediting the shipping. Otherwise, I'd have waited another few years before the creature started moving again."  
"Who exactly are you?" I questioned next, taking a chance. That only got another bark of laugh from him.  
"How rude. Maybe **you** should introduce yourself first, after all this is my shrine you know. Have some respect." There was flash of blue over his eyes again, almost like fire.

"... Fine, have it your way." I divulged without a moment of hesitation. "I'm Silas. Silas Bell." I answered. "Also known as Sobato, and sometimes by my initials, S.B. I'm a warrior of the Crimson Moon, a priest and I lead a group of others around."  
The man smiled widely at that, teeth altogether too sharp. I had a vague feeling I'd just handed him my heart on a silver platter, complete with sauce and side dish. I quickly added more to offset that, "Well, neither are my real names. I can't tell you the real one, since I don't know it myself."  
He frowned somewhat at that, but moved on quietly enough.  
"Well met, Silas Bell. Sobato. S.B." The man alternated through each name as if tasting each, judging them. Then his grey eyes met my own, stretching his arms wide to both sides. "Ahem. I am a lord-servant of the black wolf god Rigel. A god of calamity. Welcome to my master's shrine, excreta, excreta."

"God of calamity?" I exclaimed, suddenly cautious.  
"Yep. That's him." The wolf-spirit grinned. "God of earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami's, misfortunes, falling off cliffs, stubbing your little toe in the dark, and so forth."  
The wolf-spirit flicked his robe, ear twitching. "And since you've prayed here, I take it you're a new convert?"  
"Not a chance in hell." I immediately said, then immediately regretted the word choice.  
That only got a roaring laugh out of him. "Figures. Being a follower of the Black God isn't the best way to live a happy life as a human. He's not the kind of god that's supposed to get a lot of worship. Also the local priest… ahhh, accidentally died a few decades ago."

Spectrum was at my side in a moment, _"There's no indications he's on the level, SB, so be careful."_  
Level? If you're saying he's several orders of magnitude above my pay grade, then yes. This is a god's servant, and I'm just some random bloke with a sharp stick and fat mouth. _"He has some method of compelling you every time you fail to resist using the gleam of magic in his eyes, but so far his commands haven't been -that- unreasonable."_  
Wait – what?! I furiously ran through that dialog in my head and came back wanting. That bastard! I hadn't even noticed! No one fucks with my head and gets away with it!

Except for you guys, you all get a pass.  
And Last Fang.

This better not become a list.

Lex agreed, taking a spot on the forefront of my mind. _"Spectrum is right, he is using some form of compulsion magic. Likely has some Naming magic as well, and Contract magic is on par for the course when dealing with those sorts. Be very careful of your wording, and promise nothing."_  
"What's the matter? Wolf got your tongue? This place ain't _that_ impressive to leave you speechless." The wolfman said, clearly irritated by my lack of reply. He gestured the broken down wolf statue along with the general state of the shrine. Point taken.  
"I'm thinking right now. I tend to do that a lot you know, need to mull things over." I answered back nervously, buying some time. Goddamnit, I have to censor my words now? This is totally going to end well.

Spectrum added onto that, _"That said, I could see a clever bluff on his part to even begin to lay ownership to the orb. There's an element of showmanship and how he's controlling the conversation to where the orb could theoretically have been any item you carried on you."_  
Lex interjected, _"Note he has deliberately avoided touching the Orb, so he might, just might, be bound by some set of rules impeding him of attacking just anyone."_  
Right. God's servant, and even a black god would follow the rules of heaven right? He hasn't attacked me either yet. Either he can't or he doesn't want to. I should find out soon which side of the coin he falls under and plan from that.

Lex continued, " _Creatures that trick and manipulate one into giving them the permission they need are rather traditional. Still, those claws aren't for show, and someone that considers the King's Nightmare a 'critter' shouldn't be taken lightly. Eldritch probably has good reasons to hide this place, and she seems to be a kind God, so I would advise deferring to her judgment. This guy serves the God of_ _ **Calamity**_ _. Not Chaos, or Chance, but misfortune and disaster."_

I gulped at the thought. That followed exactly with how he introduced Rigel.  
"Well then, if you've got nothing to say human, then I'll start." The spirit in question set out, "I want that orb and you probably want something too. So tell me your wishes already and let's get this over with. What is it you want? Money? Fame? Women? Power? Steak and potatoes?" The guardian spirit said with a shrug. He didn't seem particularly care.

Spectrum wasn't convinced. _"I'm personally against trading it away for fear of pissing off the stronger local wolf God, so..."_  
The plan was outlined in my head, along with a laundry list of possible things to do. I saw her wonder off into the shrine, letting the rest of the group stick by.  
 _"I agree with big sis spectrum, offending gods isn't good. However letting a servant of a god of disasters go isn't good as well."_ Mochi chattered in my head. The alpaca appeared near the wolf-man but the servant didn't seem to even notice. _"In any case, while he's pretty definitely not out for your health and well-being, being hostile is a downright terrible idea."_

Right then. Let's leave the wolf-spirit to his nice shrine here. Lovely talking to you, but I really must get going and all that…  
"Thought about it, and I think I'll discuss this at another time, maybe tomorrow." I started carefully. I'll need to find a way out of this, because I got a feeling he wasn't just going to let me turn and walk off.  
That got a frown from him as expected.  
"Wait, wait, let's not be hasty here," He said lightly, an edge on his voice. "How about you stay and we work this out, S.B?"  
At that, there was that glint of blue on his eyes, right when he mentioned my name.

"I… Don't… No, I.. but," I fell over to a knee, my head felt like someone had wedged a spike through it. A few of the voices had filled the gap between me and the wolf-spirit and were shoving into my mind. I groaned, clutching my head. What was I thinking? I can't remember, the headache was steeped deep into me. "No, I need to… leave… p-poli-" The voices had told me to leave! I can't stay. But, why did I think I should? This place is dangerous I need to go. No, I should stay and resolve things with th- who again? I got to go. Need to.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Immediately, the pain faded and my mind returned to normal. First thing I did was check who's hand it was. I glanced up to the face of a worried wolf spirit.  
"That… wasn't supposed to happen." He muttered darkly, "Hang on kid, someone's messing with your head. Nasty compulsion too, never seen anything like it. This borders on straight blood magic." He shivered at the thought, I could see disgust over his features.  
I coughed out, trying to stand up weakly. "Thanks, but no thanks, I can handle things on my own."  
The wolf seemed shocked, then frowned. "Listen, you're being possessed by some specter, or demon maybe. I'm a shrine guardian, I can't just ignore someone suffering like that. Likely a greater demon considering how powerful the compulsion was. It's not light-hearted head tricks either, that compulsion was so strong it would have ripped right into your soul, worst game of chicken I've ever played."  
He dragged me back on my feet, "The priest would have been able to exorcise this, the best I can do for you is drag it out and try to fight it. Stop and think for a moment while you're lucid, this could be your only chance at freeing yourself."

No, I needed to go. I can't stay here and fight something. That's not the plan.  
"S-sorry, I need to leave. Need to discuss this over with my group."  
"I…hmm, can't just stop you from leaving without triggering that compulsion." The wolf spirit seemed lost for a moment, thinking hard. "Ah! I got it. You're free to leave." He pointed off to the side, then snapped his finger. Odd.  
I took my first step, and realized what he'd done. It felt like I was walking through quicksand. My feet strained to move forward. Was I making progress? Yes. Fast? Absolutely not. I was moving slower than a snail. And it took _effort_.

"Like this you're following the compulsion set on you right? You're leaving the shrine. Just, _slowly_."  
"Look, I can't make any deals with you until I talk to my teammates." I grunted out, trying to shut him off my head.  
"What gives? I don't ge- wait - it managed _more than one_ compulsion?! How are you still sane?"  
"Define sanity again for me. My dictionary has pretty loose wording about it." I chuckled darkly.  
"Do you know who's pulling your strings at least? We can figure out a way to fight back," The wolf man asked at my side.  
I didn't answer, keeping a single-minded focus on leaving.  
"Skullheil is the only god I can think of that would allow this, but I don't smell the taint of any demon on you." He scratched his head furiously trying to come up with something. From the edge of my eyes, the spirit patrolled around me, looking me over like a doctor would.  
"Not even something general… super specific. And multiple layers too… This doesn't make sense at all."  
"Plenty of things don't make a lick of sense in this world." I struggled to move my leg forward. It complied, inch by inch.

 _"No offense Silas but ... I feel some deity is in favor of you and that not always a good thing."_  
I laughed dryly at that, and struggled again against the invisible bindings. _"It might be Rigel cause Calamity is synonym to misadventure but ... I believe in balance so calamity and chaos might be necessary. It causes change, unity and advancement but I don't trust that guy. If he can lure the mimic outside the shrine boundary why can't he kill it outside the boundary and drag it back to the shrine?"_  
Going to hazard a guess that he can't leave the shrine probably. Moment the mimic steps foot on the shrine, the guardian could tear it to pieces.  
 _"He gave no name and plus would you use etc etc on a god you worship?"_  
That… was certainly something. Was this spirit even an actual servant to Rigel? Or was that part of his lie? Seemed awfully dismissive of his own master here.

Yii appeared to the side, clearly agitated. "S.B." He cordially announced. _"We have examined the situation, and we came to the conclusion that it is in our best interest to not give him the orb. That thing is going to unlock some huge amount of power within him, and he might as well just kill you right after to leave no witness of what happened. He could kill you all then if he wished to, for the sole reason that he is a vessel of Calamity and doesn't want to leave behind any loose ends that might distract him from the true goal he will try to achieve later."_  
Why do I get the feeling you bastards are going to make me do something?  
 _"That is why I'm about to ask you to do something very brave."_  
I just jinxed myself didn't I?

 _"Please, keep the orb away from the servant of an evil god, even by fighting him if necessary. You are no Paladin, I know, but today you have to pretend to be one."_  
So far, he's already got me beat with a snap of his fingers.  
 _"After distracting him with some good talking, if he does not relent and tries to force you in: throw the orb behind you as far as you can, away from the shrine, and smite him back with everything you've got. Retreat and call for help."_

Seemed like a plan at least. First I had to get out of here. If I failed that, talking time. I spent five minutes getting nowhere fast. He just sat and stared at me, thinking. Eventually, I ran out of steam. I know, five minutes and I'm wiped already? In my defense, it's really hard to walk in this trap-spell. I collapsed on my knees, feeling the legs shaking like jello. Good thing my arms were free, so I could scavenge through my bag for the water canteen.  
"Rough." The spirit said to my side, with a bit of empathy. "You literally walked yourself until you couldn't anymore."  
"Makes," I panted, "For a good workout."

He stayed still, then roared out laughing. "You got spirt kid! For a cursed man."  
"It's not… so bad… once… you get… used to it."  
"Got it out of your system? Need another workout?" He snickered. I tossed my canteen at him, which stopped his snickering.  
Didn't do any damage as he just caught it without a second thought, then sent it back my way.

I didn't answer him at all. Instead I waited for a minute or two, catching my breath. Only spoke when I was ready.  
"Nope. Still agree walking out of here is in my best interests."  
The wolf-spirit waved his hand lazily. "Leave the orb over here then, we can discuss anywhere else after. I'm a wolf spirit, we take our word seriously. You did save me a few years by killing the Nightmare, and that's a pretty heroic feat for a human. Only fair I give something back."  
"Need to talk it over with my team first."  
The wolf sighed. "Everyone needs something, and you took something that I worked for. That's stealing. I'd be well within my rights to take it from you, you know that right? I could, and I wouldn't feel bad about it!"  
Got to distract him. Or toss the orb away like Yii said. But I'm pretty sure he'd catch it out of the air before it even left an inch from my hand. Still, the voices had told me that was the plan. All right, first I'll need to gain his confidence enough to make him believe I've changed my mind. Then I retreat fast.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions?"  
"Knock yourself out kid. I got all year." The wolfman chuckled, taking a quick leap and gracefully landing onto the broken wolf statue. There he sat down, comfortably looking down on me. I feel he was showing off his agility, in a sort of _You're batshit insane if you think you can outrun me._ Like I needed more evidence on that.  
Revya spoke a sentence of advice, _"Don't Brandish your weapon, or make any hostile motions. Also don't show your teeth while smiling, his god is a wolf god, animal kingdom rules. Show no weakness."_

Right. No weapons. No smiling either. Hostile motions were pretty impossible at this moment anyhow. I took a breath and threw out my first question.  
"I'm guessing the enemy of your master is Eldritch right?"  
"Ho, what tipped you off boy? The fact that there are only two wolf gods and they hate each other?"  
Hey! Being a snarky git is my shtick, I'd appreciate if you don't encroach on my character here!

I threw out the second question, "Why did Eldritch hide this shrine?"  
"Saaaaa, beats me. Honestly." He snorted, looking up. "Rigel had a fight with her over something petty or maybe he was going to break something again. She hit this shrine during the fight for some reason or another. Then Eldritch never got around to finishing the job after he left the territory. I'm pretty sure the two idiots completely forgot I'm still kicking dust around here." The wolf had a blaze approach to all this. He spoke as if it was simply natural. Chaos didn't believe that for a second. _"...I do not like this man, child. While powerful and old enough to defeat the mimic alone his arrogant attitude disgust me."_

Arrogant sure, but it's not really arrogance if he can just squash me like a bug. Clearly he was capable of it. Chaos followed up the opinions of the other voices, explaining again to be weary of the magic he had. A trickster this guy was. _"You are the one holding the Orb, the orb that he needs to escape whoever imprison him here. The position of higher power. Be careful of any word play that he tries, he may look young but he is probably twice older than all your Party's age combined."_  
I'm starting to think these ruins are a century old at the least. Either way, I wasn't getting out of this one using my spear or legs that's for sure. Got to out-trick the trickster. No other way out.  
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked next.  
The wolfman shrugged nonchalantly again. "Why lie? It's not like I'm trying to stab you in the back kid. I'd be a terrible shrine guardian if I attacked someone who offered a simple prayer to my master. I already feel pretty bad for triggering that headache earlier."  
"How can I trust anything that comes from a servant of Rigel – a straight up god of calamity?" I probed. I don't think it was a rude question.

His ears perked up for a moment at his god's name, followed by his right hand grabbing his own chin in contemplation. "Tch. Forgot mortals tend to think badly on the master. It's not like Rigel has an evil cult behind him kid, he's a god of calamity. Say it with me **Ca** - **la** - **mi** - **ty**. Not a god of evil, demons, death, or plague. Well, maybe plague - but that's not his usual M.O."  
He sighed, then thought some more. In a moment, his mouth was open and babbling again. "All right let's see… if I wanted to lie to you kid, I'd have just pretended this was a shrine to that bitch goddess. Not like any of you can tell the difference. Besides, if she's anything like I remember she's probably popular with the mortals enough right now. Safe bet. Or I could have said it was indeed the shrine to Rigel and I was some poor servant of Eldritch, trapped here after a heroic fight. I could have said a hundred different things, so why would I introduce myself as a servant of Rigel, if not because I didn't think lying was worthwhile?"

"Maybe you're compelled to identify yourself as a servant of Rigel, and you can't have possibly said anything else."  
He looked at me for a moment, his eyes widening. Then he burst out laughing like a complete madman. "Rigel?! Actually taking care to do _anything_ right? That oaf can and _has_ screwed up simple addition, never mind the intricacies of an airtight language seal. You give the god too much credit human! Rigel's a nice bloke but he's a hopelessly clumsy moron by his very nature. If his sister isn't fussing over him constantly, he'd blow up the world on accident."

You've… got to be kidding me right now. "The god of calamity is a walking comedy skit?!"  
"Oh! I like that - I'll remember that one." The wolf-spirit said grinning with that toothy smile of his. Like a shark's grin.  
"B-but he's the _Black God Rigel_! That's a straight up the most evil sounding name!"  
Give it back! Give back my respect!

The wolfman shrugged nonchalantly once again. He'd been doing that a lot, and my impression of him was changing rapidly from mysterious if not outright dangerous spirit to free-winded go-with-the-flow scatterbrain. "I didn't pick the name. He probably thought it sounded cool back then. Rigel doesn't really do forethought. And you know, at least my master didn't put a laundry list of compulsions on me and here you are calling him evil. Your own must be the lord of demons incarnate in comparison. Even Skullheil has standards."

I didn't even bother to answer that. Inside my head I was having my own inner revelation: The Black God Rigel is a mini-Ranta. I tried to calm my nerves. Is this real life?  
 _"Fucking seriously? It's a goddamned mushroom picking mission."_ The alpaca burst out then. I got to agree with that. Where exactly had this mission changed from picking mushrooms to discussing with a goddamned shrine spirit about the god of calamity? Add learning everything I thought about gods was totally wrong. Like my life would ever be simple. Should have just done what Last Fang did, don't mess with anything that's got the gods involved. I'm starting to think her reasons for avoiding them might be different then I suspected.

 _"What if this god of calamity is not actually that bad and just doing his job, for one thing?"_ Lord Bleeding Heart asked to the side.  
That… Ok clearly there's something that's not being communicated between what the gods are and what everyone down here says they are. I could get behind that assumption, we're not exactly the most honest of creatures and this could all end up being on fisherman's tale. People don't like earthquakes breaking their homes, so it's logical to see where The Black God got his infamous rep from.  
 _"He had a SHRINE built in the middle of what was a giant kingdom, just a few miles off the second largest city of Aravakia. And the shrine's avatar for the god is a WOLF."  
_  
Point taken Lord Bleeding Heart, defender of the apparently clumsy god of calamity.  
"What was the point of this shrine anyhow?" I asked, plainly curious by now.  
"Saaa, don't remember." The wolf-spirit explained without thought while scratching an ear, no care in the world.

My eye twitched dangerously. If I had a hat, I'd be throwing it down and stomping on it right now. The wolf spirit grunted, "Do I look like a priest to you? No. I'm just the lord-servant attached to this shrine. My job's to fight anything that threatens these stupid rocks. Except I can't fight time, obviously."  
"But you served here during its hayday right? At least you've got to have some idea!"  
The wolf spirit thought critically for a moment, I could almost see the gears working in the back of his head.  
"Hmmmm… It's probably got something with earthquakes if I remember right. Wish Harkon was still alive. He's the one that paid for and helped set up this shrine. Served for a few years, then he tripped and fell off a cliff by accident after he spoke with my master one day. Can't be helped na? He worshiped a god of calamity after all, anytime he'd talk to the master something bad would happen to him. Comes with the package, he just ran out of luck. Anyhow, that priest probably had a good reason for all this, humans don't spend huge amounts of money for nothing."

He took a pause, considering. "Well, most humans don't. Harkon was an eccentric man, but he usually had a sound reason for anything he did."  
 _  
"Also do note. The servant was after the HEART of the monster. Not the monster itself."_ Lord Bleeding Heart finished, I guess there was probably debate among the voices on what would be worse: Giving the servant a monster on tow, or giving the servant some thing unknown?

"So what do you want this orb for anyhow? The mimic's dead. It's not coming back." I asked, trying to see why the servant wanted the heart. Maybe it'll just tell me.  
"What about it? The King's Nightmare is just a void critter stacked with hunger basically. The real beauty of that orb is its other effects, which are still working. See the deathless king picked a fight with Eldritch by refusing the natural order way back when. So he had to make all his relics with that in mind. That orb is effectively masking everything around it from her sight and dispelling most of her simple enchantments. Sort of like a divine nullity zone. If he didn't put that on the Nightmare's, the gods would simply warn the people and the mimics would be useless as a behind-enemy-lines physiological weapon."

I'm starting to wrap my head around the situation now.  
"And you want it to hide yourself from her?" Ah ha! I knew there was something fishy! Of course, I was subverted instantly.  
"What? No," He exclaimed again, "Tch, I keep overestimating you mortals when it comes to common sense. I don't need to hide from her, she's got plenty of lord-servants in her service already - why would she need another one?" He fidgeted to the side, making himself more comfortable. "I need that orb to break Rigel's chains! I used to be free, before my master defeated me and chained me up here."

Wait, he's actually an enemy of Rigel? And before I could even ask, I was once again proven wrong.  
"That's fine and all, I don't resent that. Loss is a loss. He might be a careless moron, but he's got overwhelming power and he beat my name out honorably enough. I was happy enough to do the job while there was a job to do, you know." His ears drooped slightly and he gazed off to the side. "Still, the golden age is over and everyone's forgotten about me now. So I think it's only right I disappeared too."

Rag muttered to my side, _"Just a possibility, but if you feel like it you could try to sell him a way out. Mobility if not escape. All that you really need for a shrine is a semi enclosed area and an idol. Possibly some blessed land too. What I'm saying is, he could probably leave if he just stuck the wolfhead set in some dirt in a box or backpack"_

All right, let's try that out Rag. I thought.  
"Why not just grab a part of the shrine and carry it with you? You won't be technically leaving right?"  
That got another chuckle out of him. "It wouldn't work, obviously. Even my master can't mess up the binding contract. I'm tied to this ground unless he releases me from service, my chains are broken, or I die. Simple as that."  
At that, the spirit lifted his neck, and what appeared out of nowhere was a metal choker – no rather, it's been there this entire time, just hidden from my view. Large and cumbersome, with a chain floating outwards and disappearing into the air.  
"At this point, I'd say there's more chances a bird-spirit remembers something than my master returning for me. I'm not very thrilled with the thought of dying, so that leaves making a break for it." The prisoner finished, glancing down as the metal choker faded from my view. I nervously gripped the orb.  
"What will you do once you're free?"

That got a pause and surprised look out of him. "… I haven't actually thought that far ahead," True to his word, he seemed suddenly deep in thought.  
I groaned. "Aren't you supposed to be the trickster here?! Do your job properly!"  
"Trickster? Do I look like a slimy fox spirit to you?" He said, offended I would even suggest such a thing. "I am a lord servant! Among the strongest of the wolf spirits! I was challenged by the god of calamity himself! I fought against him and was chased for an entire _day_ before I was caught and defeated!"  
I smirked at that. He didn't appreciate it either, since he was clearly expecting me to be impressed. A low growl came out of his throat, "How do you know everything I've told you isn't just a magnificent series of lies to twist your perception of me?! Eh?! Eh?!" He stood dramatically upwards, posing with his chest puffed out. Then he froze.  
"Actually," The wolfman backtracked, "Don't think that. It'll be a total pain to deal with considering how paranoid you are."

Dame da. This guy's an idiot. "Sure, let me just conveniently forget that last bit." I deadpanned.  
"Why, thank you. Please, go ahead and do so." The wolfman said, eyes glinting blue with a lazy whisk of his hand.

I groaned. "Aren't you supposed to be the trickster here?! Do your job properly!" A flurry of the voices kicked up and surrounded my head, I had no idea what prompted them to do that either.  
"Ha! Guess your master didn't prepare you for everything. To answer your question," The wolfman explained, sitting down. Must have not seen him stand up, clearly I'm turning blind. "I'll probably go back to living my life how it used to be before Rigel fought me. It's been a century, but the astral plane's usually unchanging. Maybe I'll stretch my legs out in the physical word, sightsee for a bit."

Mochi warned me then, _"SB, this is a servant of a god of calamity, I believe that no matter what he offers you, you should NOT give him the orb. Firstly calamity on the world is bad because you and your team are living in the world, secondly, even if nothing happens, it'll put you in the bad books of a goddess with enormous amounts of influence."_

"And if I refuse to hand you the orb?" I shot out, following Mochi's train of thoughts.  
"Why would you? I'm giving you something for it right? Not sure what yet, but you've got something you want right? And heck, once I'm done getting the chains ripped you can grab that orb and make a hat out of it for all I care. It's not like it'll break from doing what it's supposed to be doing."

Then he frowned, and hissed through his teeth again. "Ahhh forgot about that compulsion you're under. That's going to be a pain to deal with."  
"Not the point - You're a servant of the god of calamity!" I narrowed my eyes, trying to pin out any lie.  
"What's that got to do with anything?" The wolf spirit huffed, clearly confused.  
"You might just wreak havoc or something around this area instead of going back to that astral plane of yours!"  
"What? I'm a wolf spirit! Not some harbinger of destruction and misery! I'd appreciate if you quit stereotyping everything, you bigot."  
He's totally looking down on me. I'm not paranoid! It's not my fault everything I've met that's not human has tried some combination of killing me already. And at that, even some humans have tried to stab me too!

I stared at him unwavering, and he growled back at me. Clearly neither of us would back down. He froze then, and twisted to the side, sniffing the air. It was like something shiny had caught his undivided attention just then.  
"Looks like one of your friends is walking into my turf. Woman. Hunter. Pretty thing too. You an item with her?"  
"Yume? I only know her for about two weeks now."  
"Not an excuse, some people know each other for a night. Tch, you're too dull Silas."  
"Hey, hey hey, I've got a lot of things on my mind and getting into someone's bed ain't at the top of the list yet."  
"Suit yourself. Only thing I've ever found interesting anyhow on the physical realm. But… since you said she's free, you don't mind if I take a shot at that right?"  
My blood flushed out of my cheeks, and I turned pale. He's joking right? A glance upwards. Oh god he's really not joking.  
"She's a hunter in service of Eldritch!"  
"So?" He asked, and by all that is true in this world – he seemed absolutely genuine with that remark.

 _This. Motherfucker._ I don't know whether to just give up right now or actually take him seriously. I tried to reach him, but my legs hit that invisible sandpit trap again, making me move like time had frozen under my hips. I quickly put a stop to that and calmed down for a moment. Right. Violence wouldn't solve anything here. Neither would walking away. I had to solve this like an adult – using my words, seething passive aggressive remarks, and compromise.  
"Let me put this better: I care about my teammates. What happens to Yume when Eldritch finds out?"  
The wolf spirit groaned, "Gods don't meddle in that. Eldritch is in a war with her brother because he's liable to break everything he touches if she's not there to keep him in check. That's it. Got nothing to do with the retainers under both gods, what we do in our own time is our own time."

I waved him away, getting back on track.  
"If you try any of your brain-washing magic, I'll gut you like a fish!" I hissed.  
"What? Why? Flirting is _fun_. That would ruin everything." He glanced at me puzzled, before something dawned on him. "Wait - how did you find out about the mind charm?" He looked me over a second time, but failed to find anything unusual while I held my breath. "Huh. You're more perspective then I thought. Or there's more to that compulsion you're under." He quickly backtracked out of that, "Well, guess that's fine."  
"Give me your word you're not going to charm Yume."  
"But that's the whole objective of flirting!"  
"Not that kind of charm!" I seethed out, take this seriously punk!  
"Relax, I'm not going to mind charm the girl. That defeats the purpose of _everything_. Besides, she's taking her time looking over the ruins as we speak and probably won't show up for a few more minutes. Back to the topic at hand! What is it you want for that orb? When does that compulsion of yours to not deal with me end?"  
Lord Bleeding Heart was all over that. _"I think a deal can be made for that cute fox-girl familiar. Do keep aware of what he says."_  
"Can he really do a fox girl familiar?" I blurted out under my breath, surprised at Bleeding Heart's suggestion. Then realized I was still in front of what could possibly be a trickster, with very sharp ears. "Wait-" but I was interrupted before I could renegade on that. The wolf spirit seemed to choke on my request instead of granting it.  
Chaos muttered to my side, _""...apologies for Kaaz, at least have a laugh in knowing he shows no lies and proudly bares his honest intentions without shame...his very very honest intent..."_

On the other hand, the wolf spirit also had a very honest intent: in this case disgust.  
" _Seriously_? A fox-spirit? That's just _asking_ to have your heart broken - don't trust fox spirits! Why not a loyal wolf-spirit instead?" Then he sighed, "I'm absolutely biased when I say that, but I mean, look at me! It took the better part of a _century_ before I decided to wiggle out of this job. Some other wolf-spirits would have stayed here for centuries more, waiting for their master to return! We're _clearly_ better stock."

I had no words. This entire situation was just so beyond anything I could have expected, my mouth remained shut in protest.  
The wolf-spirit grumbled, "Besides, best I can do for you is give you a way into the astral plane. After that, it's up to you to take a name yourself, though I suppose I'll have to help since that's your request. At least a wolf spirit would be an honorable fight. A fox spirit would drag you down into a riddle game, maybe some rigged board game or some nonsense like that. Terribly pretentious lot."  
He growled next, clearly agitated while thinking of fox-spirits. I realized he was talking more to himself then to me at this point. "They also can't stop talking like every other sentence is a lie by omission! Do they really think they're so cool doing that or something?! At least cat spirits do it accidentally, but fox spirits _deliberately_ try to be enigmatic!"  
A hand shot out and pointed right at me. "And not even your god could save you from the pranks a fox spirit would put you through if she won your name." I saw a shudder go through his furry ears and down his neck. Even his tail puffed out as the shudder reached through.

"You really have something against foxes. Or one particular fox spirit." I muttered out.  
"Hey! I see what you're trying to imply and it's absolutely not like that! Of course I've got a bone to pick with foxes, we're polar elements. Wolf spirits are winter spirits. Fox spirits are fire. Obviously I don't like them much, it's just in my nature. But if that's your request, I'll do my best to help make it happen."  
"Wait – no, I need to mull it over first. It was just me speculating!"

A wide smile broke out on the guardian spirit.  
"Ahh it was? Good! Glad you saw reason there human, playing riddle games with a fox as my first free ac-" Then he stopped dead in his tracks, and took an animal like sniff in the air. The very next moment - I wasn't looking at a robed man any longer, but instead a large black wolf with aboriginal designs coloring his fur in grey. The wolf leaped off the statue and came to a stop by my feet, tongue lolling out and tail wagging.

"Sobato!" I heard a very familiar voice in the background. I turned, horrified, as Yume walked out and into sight. "Wait! Don't com-" I tried to shout but was quickly drowned out as the wolf shoved me down and licked my cheeks, shutting me up. **You!**  
Yume shrieked seeing the sight. "He's… so adorable!" I felt the licking stop, then blessedly the wolf was off me. I wiped the slobber off my face in a few moments. And was rewarded with the sight of a very happy wolf wagging his tail while Yume had her face buried in his fur, cheeks rubbing furiously while the girl hugged the wolf tightly. The clincher here were the wolf's eyes. As they lazily passed by me, I will never in my life, ever, see an animal look that _smug_.


	19. Chapter 19

"Yume, uhh…"

More bell like laughing made me shut my mouth. Followed by the rhythmic thumping of a furry tail whacking the ground, kicking up dust anywhere it didn't get trapped. See, I got a gut feeling there wasn't much I could even say right now. The girl had brought down the mighty wolf on his back while she scratched his belly. And that's _not_ a clever metaphor. Despite knowing exactly who that goddamn wolf was, I had no idea what to say.

Yume, he's actually a century or older _man_ , who just happens to look like a wolf right now?  
Yume, he's totally being cute and cuddly just to get closer to you.  
Yume, he's… well he's… I just don't even know anymore.  
For a wolf, he's acting a lot more like a dog then anything really. Very dignified there, spirit. I sighed and just sat back on my haunches.

 _"_ _Cant...resist..that smugness..too adorable.."_ A voice in my head said. What?! No! Priorities people! I think the technical term for this is 'Highly goddamn suspicious.'  
The voice ignored me and drifted off to the wolf's side. The wolf-spirit didn't notice jack squat, rather, I doubt it could even see anything. Yume had begun the assault on his ears. His eyes were completely shut in bliss from the head scrunches. Only a matter of time now until full victory was declared by Yume over this wolf.

 _"_ _You should have realized by now. He has caused you a debilitating headache, has tried to fool you that he is not such a bad person to obtain that orb, and is even holding your friend hostage."_ Another voice said to the side.  
Define 'hostage' here, I thought watching Yume utterly dominate the black wolf. The only thing he's moving right now is his tail, the rest is just a paralyzed fuzzy black mess that's being scratched enthusiastically every which way by the giggling hunter.  
 _"_ _He may speak affable words, but his actions speak of his insidious nature. If you are to give him this orb now, he WILL cause major calamity upon you and your friends. Try to escape, and tell Yume to run away since she's holding a dangerous monster. Don't throw the orb since we don't know just how much is the boundary that he can move about."  
_  
The alpaca on the other hand had a totally different plan: _"_ _Eh. I like him. And his reason for wanting the orb seems legit. I don't mind giving the heart to him."_ He mentioned, staring right at the wolf just a few feet away. The other voices were in disagreement on that plan, I could feel. There was some debate, which boiled down to: Is this guy doing the long con or is he legit? Which is a fair question all things considered. _  
"So far, we only have his word that Fluffy goddess would NOT be offended. That HE wants to go off on his own, and that as a wolf his honorable and all that jazz."_ Mochi reported on the side. He was firmly on camp Wolf-guy-is-really-an-evil-scumbag. _"_ _I definitely feel that you need a second opinion in regards to the nature of wolf spirits before agreeing to any terms."_

Second guessing never hurts unless your grade is on the line in a test. I felt a glare from a few directions, so I shut up on topics too close to home. _"_ _The main problem to me is that you only have his WORD in regards to his nature, once you know that his word is true, then you can begin negotiations."_ Fine – it's a valid thought, but where the hell will we find anything else about him? I could keep asking him questions, hoping to trip him up into revealing his game-plan but somehow I had a suspicious either he was worse at the word-games then I was or on an entirely different playing field.

Spectrum was at my side, _"_ _Oh SB, if I could give you a hug, I would."_  
It's certainly an improvement over getting slapped by the fa- shutting up now.  
 _"_ _I'm sorry you're in pain,"_ She explained, _"…_ _but that's what happens when he tries to give you an order that we anticipated and blocked."_

… Oh… that's why I got that massive headache ten minutes ago? I don't really understand it, you guys advised me to pack up and leave and it made sense to do that. We're all joking around when we say orders right? Wait – do you guys _actually_ take control and order me around without my notice? And… where was I going with this? Something about orders but I can't really remember. Felt like a fleeting thought in a dream. I summarily dropped the thread as Spectrum continued. Probably not important.  
 _"_ _By the way, he made you forget a sentence or two where he fronted a bit about how he's a lord servant, strongest among wolf spirits, then when you smirked at him, he was ruffled and threatened you about how you don't know if everything he's told you is just a series of lies."  
_  
Chaos was at her side too, reassuring me that they could protect me from the wolf-spirit's charm. But I wasn't dumb. I could clearly see a bluff, if they could protect me from the man's mind tricks then why did they fail previously?  
No winning move there. Mochi agreed and asked me to try anyhow. Only one other source out here anyhow, hell. Maybe her goddess did know something. I was about to call out to Yume when another voice showed up out of the woodwork.  
 _"_ _Greetings, all. My name is Denguyen, and, unfortunately, am rather new to these quests. In spite of this, I shall do my best to aid all of thee in thine adventures."_

Ahh. Denguyen. That's a wordy name. Well, which camp are you in on the wolf pretending to be a dog there?  
 _"_ _Honestly, I do not believe it to be prudent to trust this wolf-being. Not only had he invaded the sanctity of the Catalyst's mind, but he showeth no qualms with using a mental alteration magics upon the Catalyst. This, in of itself is reason for suspicion. Catalyst and Collective, I implore you all to be cautious. Also, I do not appreciate the smug look that canine wears on his face."_

Right I keep hearing about his mind powers but I still don't know exactly when he used them other then what Spectrum said earlier – that he'd wiped my memory. If I were a sane man, I'd have thought the voices were just trying to fuck with my head some more. But for now, better get Yume out of his paws. And I do mean that literally.  
"Hey Yume," I barked out, getting the girl to look up for a moment. The wolf's head turned to my direction with an annoyed glance. It wasn't very effective considering his head was upside down on the ground, getting his chin scratched.  
"Sobato! He's so adorable! Can Yume keep him?!"  
"W-what, no! Do you even know who he - wait – don't give me that look! That ain't fair! Let's think this through ok? Ok."  
Yume had a pout, and she wore it like a weapon. This did not bode well for me.

"Appreciate the thought girl, but I'm no one's pet." The wolf-spirit said matter of fact. Then quickly added, "Wait, don't stop scratching. It's been way to long since the last time I had this."  
True to the order, Yume resumed her assault with a little less enthusiasm and a lot more confusion.  
"Sobato…" She gently spoke, "Ummm, if Yume says something weird, you won't think Yume's crazy right?"  
I stayed quiet for a moment, then chuckled to myself. "I'm in no position to look down on anyone for being crazy. Truuuuust me."  
"…Swear." Yume clarified.  
"What, pinky swear? Let's just skip all that and let me take a guess at what you're going to tell me, how about it?"

The hunter tilted her head confused, before the wolf pawed her lightly on her side, nudging her to continue the scratches.  
"Hmm, Yume doesn't really think Sobato will believe her, but-"  
"-You thought the wolf just talked right now right?" From her looks, I'd guessed right. "Well you're not crazy." I took a glance at the mutt. "Hey, wolf. When's the last time you got checked for fleas?"

To which the wolf turned its head and glared at my direction. "Now you're just being rude deliberately kid." It scolded.  
"See? It's a talking wolf. Actually it's not even a wolf, that's a guy."  
"… Yume doesn't understand at all!"

Somehow I managed to both groan and sigh at the same time. There should be a word for that.  
"How about you go back to your original form so we can talk shop, yeah?" I shot out at the impish wolf.  
"What are you talking about human?" The wolf snorted, or at least the best way a wolf could snort with its head upside down. "I am in my primal form. You think I spend my days on two feet gloating about having thumbs?"

Oh for the love of everything out there. "Wolf spirit." I barked, "Just turn back to how you appeared before, it'd make everything so much easier to get across."  
Yume on her part had once again stopped with the head scratches, looking completely lost. The wolf waited for a moment before realizing the scratches wouldn't start again. Then he rolled over back on his haunches, and shook himself like he'd walked out of a bath.  
"Fine, ruin the first time I get a good scratch in decades. No really, I'll make do. You've proven more of a pain to deal with in the last hour then my own master." He scowled, or at least the best impression a wolf could do scowling. Less about the physical features and more the tone of voice and emotions really.  
"Yeah? Go get me a prize then. Rigel taught you how to fetch at least right?" I snarked back.

I felt a breeze of ice flow behind me and reach the wolf. In a moment, what stood in the wolf's place was the man I'd met originally. Same plain shrine like clothing, tail and ears right where they were before. Yume jumped backwards, landing on her back in surprise. The wolf stretched his human back, muttering. "Now that I've got fingers again, I can do this at least. I'm pretty sure this is how you say hello." He said, giving me the one finger salute, before turning over to the girl.

"Was nostalgic really." The wolf-spirit muttered, looking past the hunter. "They'd bring children over before mass and I'd be in charge of keeping the little brats amused while the adults did their rituals. Hated it back then, heh." He sighed, "Never know what you'll miss until it's gone. But let's get back to business. Your compulsions gone yet?" He barked out in my direction. "Considering how specific it was, I'm guessing your master's breathing down your neck."

Something like that. More like breathing in my head. If they even needed air. "Planning the next thing." I explained. "Talking about that, Yume."  
I turned to the utterly stunned hunter, and pointed at the wolf-spirit. "Do you know anything about him?"  
She shook her head. "No, Yume didn't even know the wolf wasn't a wolf!"  
"Well, as far as I know he's a ser-"  
"Wait wait wait, I can introduce myself kid! It's only proper and one of the things I'm supposed to do anyhow. I'd rather you not steal what little of a job I've got left."

With that the spirit turned to the hunter and extended a hand. She took it cautiously, then was summarily yanked up by the wolf.  
"I am a lord-servant of the black wolf god Rigel. A god of calamity. Welcome to my master's shrine, and so forth."  
"Oh. I'm Yume, a hunter following Eldritch. Umm, nice to meet you?"

The wolf spirit took a step back and gave a respectful bow to which Yume returned almost out of habit. Then he turned his head around in typical shaft-head-tilt to glance at me, "See? This is proper manners. You should learn something from Yume, Silas."  
Two things. First, what's a shaft head tilt anyhow? I feel that's got something to do with my past before grimgar. Second:  
"How would I know I was supposed to bow?"

That got a wide laugh from him. "Ah. I see. Raised in the city? Everyone forgets about spirits the more massive the city is. I'm not talking about a bow, human."  
"Then what are you talking about? And, I don't remember anything since I stepped foot in this world so I've got no idea if I was raised in a city. None of my team do. We're crimson moon, remember?"  
"Wait, it's not a guild?" The wolf asked perplexed.  
"No, it's a guild."  
"Then what's being a crimson moon change anything? What's this about stepping foot in the world, are you a foreigner from across the sea? The astral plane spans the entire world, being foreigner wouldn't change anything."  
"Ummm, Yume doesn't really understand what you're both talking about but Yume also doesn't remember anything before two weeks ago too."

Now the wolf looked at us like we were pulling his chain. "What is this? Are you both in on some inside joke here?"

Odd. Actually, come to think of it he has been around this shrine away from everyone else right? Just how old is the crimson moon?  
"… All right, tell me what you know of the Crimson Moon." I asked, on a hunch. The wolf-spirit shrugged, "First I heard of it was when you introduced yourself as warrior to the crimson moon. I suppose it's another mercenary outfit, a new one that appeared within the last century. There's always a bunch of them floating around at any era."  
"And you don't think there's anything different about it?"  
"Why would there be? All merc outfits are usually the same. I'm guessing there's something to do with wiping memory before being allowed admittance in your outfit? That seems beyond stupid. Are you all criminals that need a new blank slate? Some sort of suicide brigade?"

We both looked at each other, confused. Then Yume broke the ice.  
"Umm, two weeks ago we appeared in this tower naa? It was dark and no one remembered where we came from or anything. Then we climbed up and got lead to Altana. Then we met Britney who gave us a lot of silver to be part of the Crimson Moon, naa? She told us we can't be anything else but that, and we've got to hunt down golins in the forest to make money."  
We stayed quiet before it was my turn to break the ice.  
"Yume, it's Goblin, not golin."  
"It is? Oh."

The wolf just scratched his ear nervously. "So you're telling me you're new to this _entire_ world?"  
I nodded back, to which he tutted.  
"Oh dear, what did Rigel do this time. No – if it'd been him you'd probably be twenty foot monsters out to destroy the world instead. Trapped travelers from another world eh? Figures why you've got no manners. All right, fine. I'll give you a lesson here then."

He took a quick step and jumped back onto the broken wolf statue, overlooking the rest of us. "Human names aren't that important to you right? They're just something to call each other, so they have very weak power attached to it. Not the same for spirits in the astral plane – our names are an embodiment of our being. And while we're in this world, we've got a lot more to deal with. Consider it a home field advantage for you."

He pointed at the girl, "See how she told me her name? Now we're on equal footing. I can walk into her house without asking, I can see her reflection, I can eat the food she makes, sit at her table, excreta, excreta. A bunch of tiny things you all take for granted. All of it I couldn't do without knowing her name. But you humans – you can do all that without even knowing the other person's name. You can do all that to _me_ without knowing my name. See where I'm going with this?"  
"Uh, kinda."

The wolf scratched his head furiously, then looked up brightly. "Ah! I got it. You know about your soul right?"  
"Yes?"  
"Good. Name for spirits are our souls. But names for humans and the other mortal races here are just that: Names. Whoever knows your name doesn't own your soul, although they would be able to do small gimmick rituals and spells, like finding where you are in the world. For a spirit, knowing their name means being able to command them completely, just like if someone owned your soul."

"So if it wasn't the bow, then it's because I asked you who you were first, instead of introducing myself?"  
That's my guess at least.  
"Now you get it kid. That's like a slap on my face, telling me you've got zero intention of speaking as equals. Well, now that I know it wasn't deliberate, I'll forgive you for that."

"So what do I call you in the meanwhile? Do you have a nickname or something?"  
He scoffed at that. "If I made a nickname for myself, then it would also have just the same amount of power over me that my true name does. No, you're the one who picks a name to call me. It will still have a bit of a sway over me, but it'll be so minute even the weakest of spirits could resist. So long as everyone calls me different names, there's little trouble."

Ah. I see. This is complicated as all fuck.  
"Do I have to make a ritual for it, or any preference?"  
"Yume will call you Wafu!"

The wolf shrugged at that, while I felt my palm slap my forehead. Of course Yume would just come up with something on the spot. The spirit turned to me next, "Usually people pick something easy to remember. Though don't call me wolf, that's already taken by another kid… who's probably a grandpa by now. Or dead come to think of it. It's been a long time."  
"Didn't want to call you that anyhow. That's lame. How's Mr. Woofus sound like?" I answered with a shit eating grin. I can't help it, god knows I can't. At least I had the decency to filter myself, otherwise I'd have named him Doggy, or worse; Scoobie-doo.  
The wolf returned my grin, "I've had worse." He put in, "Someone once called me Glorified Fork, since she'd have me feed her with my fingers anytime I was around. Lazy girl had a terrible sense of humor. She made up for it later in the night though."

I shook my head, quickly dispelling the images and moved on, "Too much information. Listen, back to more serious topics: I don't know if what you told me is trustworthy or not. For all I know you might have made it all up – hell, you could be some evil spirit shackled to this shrine and willing to say anything to get out, making up elaborate stories as you go."  
"That cuts both ways kid," The wolf explained. "I don't know anything about you either. You're not part of my pack, you're not a worshipper of Rigel, and you've got a master that's put you under very specific compulsions – and it changes minute to minute. Not to mention you don't seem at all disturbed by it so I wonder just how deep the compulsion is rooted. Whatever that master is, it clearly doesn't like me either. It's a difficult spot to be in, you understand?"

Yume turned bright red then, looked like she'd understood what Woofus meant thirty seconds ago. So slow on the uptake! She hid her face with her hands quickly. Woofus on the other hand, caught her glance shot her a wink with a winning smile. To which she buried the rest of her face and looked swiftly away, eyes darting in every direction but the wolf-spirit. His shoulders rumbled in silent chuckling.

Chaos took the opportunity to get a word in _, "Right now you are pressed for time to finish your mission and get Ranta back safely home. We do not need more trouble in the group right now. Can you convince him that you will come back later to free him from his chains?"_  
I could get behind buying myself an extra day or so. I don't see it working, but hell why not try? Mochi and a few others were in agreement with that plan, so I went with it.

 _"_ _If you can not convince him to wait for one more day for you to return then ask if he wants to hear a message from us swearing on our honor that you will return."_  
Woah, wait a second – you want to reveal yourselves to him? He already offered to kill you all for me, for all I know he might view you all as a tumor that needs to be purged. The angel didn't hear of course, already getting ready to jump into the wolf spirit.

"Here's my solution for that." I reasoned to Woofus, "I want an extra day to go back into town and think things through. Get a second opinion."  
"Sure, that sounds fine to me." The wolf agreed without hesitation.  
"Wait – you're fine with this?"  
"Kid I've been stuck in this shrine for centuries, banking on a divination spell working to nudge the hands of fate a bit. And divination spells don't work on logic either, they're more a giant shot in the dark. It's like rolling dice. Never know what you'll get, or even when you'll get it. The spell might have lured the mimic here like I'd thought – or maybe you've been snared in the spell itself and this was how it was supposed to be the entire time. I don't know, but the point is there was no guarantee for anything to work for me. I didn't even know it was nudging a mimic of all things my direction until you showed up and the pieces clicked together. I thought you had a missive from Rigel at first."

The wolf shrugged, then jumped down, stretching his legs. "So if you want another day, then I don't mind waiting. What's a day compared to the time I've been stuck here?" The wolf reached out a hand and snapped his finger. Nothing seemed to happen, but the last time he'd snapped his fingers like that…  
"Fair point." I spoke neutrally. Better part was that Chaos seemed to have stopped her action of basically yelling _Hey! Hey! We're the evil people inside this guy's head that have been trying to stop this whole deal. Hi!_  
I honestly think this guy could actually _kill_ you guys. He's a god's servant after all.

"All right Yume, let's get back to Manato and the others." She nodded slowly, still recovering her blush and absolutely refusing to glance at the Woofus but failing miserably at that. With a turn on my heels, I took a breath and step… nothing stopped me either. Whatever the force field he'd put on me – it was gone now. I could walk without problems! Freedom, ho!  
Could this really be that easy?

"Wait," The wolf suddenly exclaimed. Ahh, I had to fucking jinx it. No such thing as a free lunch. He didn't give me a chance to groan either, "You're not going to leave the orb here?" The funny part was that he looked really confused at that. Like it was just expected that I'd do that.  
"No, I still need to make up my mind if I can trust you or not. Of course I'm taking the orb. I'll return here tomorrow with it."  
"That's not what you said! You said you'd go home and take some time to think it through, but you're not even going to leave the orb here in neutral ground? That's going back on your word human!"  
"I never said I'd leave the orb here." I replied quickly, not understanding what was going through this man's mind. Did he seriously expect me to just leave the orb behind? Besides, this totally wasn't neutral ground at all! This place might have been pissed on by Woofus on every nook and cranny. Wolves do that right?

The wolf on his part sat down cross-legged and thought. "Huh. You're right. Tch, maybe you'll get right along with fox spirits." He muttered, "Tonikaku, I can't let you walk away with the orb. I have no idea if you'll just never return, and my divination spell won't affect that orb anymore. It'll draw the next closest solution and there no way to know just how many more years I'd need to wait. Don't make me hurt you kid, I won't like it."  
Chaos was nudging closer to the wolf. Shit, gotta get him to agree quick before she did something we'll all regret.  
"I'm starting to think you can't. I did give a prayer to Rigel, what sort of guardian familiar attacks a simple worshipper?" Oh boy, was I treading on fire here. Not like I had a choice.

The wolf growled, "That's formality. I'm only doing my job out of respect to my master for having earned my name. But don't think I won't just take the orb from you, brat. Besides, a bit of respect to any god is just common sense, you're no follower of Rigel for it."  
Right. So there goes plan A. Time for plan B. And come to think of it, when does plan A ever work anyhow? Never, that's what.  
Chaos, suggestions? And I'm totally not just saying that to get you to stop closing in on the spirit that could literally rip you people up in pieces. Probably.

She turned and answered oddly enough, _"_ _Leave your knife or the few gems you have on you along with perhaps some food as a peace offering and insurance that you will come back. He waited over 100 years, one more day shouldn't hurt?"_

Somehow I got a feeling that probably wouldn't fly. That exact feeling when you look at a brick: This shit isn't going to stay in the air for long. But hell, everyone else on that side of the camp was nodding at that.

"Fine, how about you keep something important of mine so you know I'll return?"  
The wolf thought, "… That's... acceptable." The angel stopped inching forward. "Then, what will you offer that's of equal value to my freedom?"  
"Uhhh…" What had the voices asked?  
Right, I remembered. Ring, gems, knife, and that stuff. Wait a sec – I don't have the ring anymore, I tossed it to Haru. Fuck. That's one less thing to bargain about. And the gems are safely back home, not like I would carry that sort of money on an expedition. Who am I expecting to find in the middle of the forest?

"I can leave you my knife and bags here, it's got my rations and valuables. They're actually tastier then you'd think. Would that work?" I had a sinking feeling this was a terrible idea as well.  
"Is this a joke?" The wolf spirit tilted his head with a snarl. "Are you implying my freedom is worth as much as the lint in your pockets? I don't find this funny."  
Mochi was at my side, whispering a possible argument. I took it.  
"Think of it this way, I can't trust you yet. Let me leave with the orb, and it'll go a long way in establishing trust."

That got a laugh out of him, and not the genuine laugh. It was a dismissive haunting cackle. "I see. How quaint." He grinned at me then, a dangerous flicker in his eyes.  
"You know, I don't think I should take moral advice from someone with questionable morality. You're very much a human for thinking only about your own navel."  
"Wait – are you calling me self-centered? What have I done that's –"

The wolf seemed more and more angered by my face, "You're about to slink away with my _freedom_ here – and you **dare** talk about trust like I owe it to _you_ first?! Where's the thought on your side of 'How do I prove **he** can trust **me**?' instead? Offering a cheap knife? I'm no dog to be stepped over!" The wolf spat that last part with a venomous growl, before he continued. Chaos jumped into him then, and all hell broke loose.

And by all hell, I mean absolutely nothing. It was like he hadn't even noticed.  
"You know, I gave you a chance at first to see who you were." He continued, undisturbed by the angel shouting next to his ear. "Now I know. You're just another selfish hollow of a man, dime a dozen. Your ignorance and utter narcissism is downright damnable. Me, me me, uh? I've tried to make a fair agreement with you, Master knows I did my best - but all you do is push for more, abusing any attempt." He snarled that last part with a dangerous enough voice my hair stood on edge.

Yume blurt in just then, "Sobato is not selfish! He's helped all of us, and was even hurt a lot of times! When Yume does well he gives me pats on the head! When something attacking us he stands right in between and protects us! He helped Mary when no one would! Yume doesn't know what you two are talking about but Sobato is not a mean person! Yume knows that!" She was breathing hard when she was done, I'd never heard her that angry before. And yet here she was, defending me.

The spirit stopped and took a breath. Getting scolded by the huntress seemed to have reset his mood. Once Woofus had composed himself, he spoke again.  
"Fine." He barked neutrally. "If you want to leave the orb behind I would swear not to use it until you returned, or until full day passes. On the other hand if you're desperate to keep the orb, you leave your hunter here instead. I find that equal to my freedom."  
I paled and glanced at the girl who'd spent the time glancing back and forth at us.

"… Me?" She squeaked, actually referring to herself using a regular pronoun for the first time, when we both took a glance at her direction. One oh three wouldn't have a second of that. _"_ _You know what? I was half tempted to give him the orb. Now he is targeting our team SCREW THAT NOISE. Keep pushing Boss man we will focus on these compulsions!"_  
Haven't felt a hint of the compulsions yet, so either he's already gotten through my defenses without notice or he hasn't yet tried anything, other than throw out a whopping scolding.

"She's a packmate of yours yes? You're a self-centered paranoiac, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're morally bankrupt enough to abandon a girl, I hope. Especially one that believes you're a decent person. You'd really be the worst."  
"I wouldn't leave Yume. Never." I answered immediately without a second thought, both to defend myself and because I meant it. I heard a hiccup from said huntress. "But this is the middle of the forest – it's too dangerous to leave Yume here alone. This is out of the question."  
The spirit grimaced, "Tch, think about it for a moment: You're in Rigel's shrine, protected by me – and that bitch goddess put a massive concealment spell here that can't be breached without some clever magic. It's safer than a fortress. I'd say it's the safest place for two hundred miles."

 _"_ _It is not as if this being cannot lie, and indeed, if he were to attempt to trick us, he would have all incentive to."_ Denguyen spoke, cautious.  
Okay. I don't like either of these choices, but I might have to pick one. Like Den and the others think, we could hand him the orb and he's just as likely to have lied to us about not using it, or leave Yume here and who knows what the hell he'd do then? Do we have a plan C? Plan B never works anyhow.

Lex had my back on that, having studied the situation critically. _"_ _I think contracting with him, as a familiar, should fulfill his wishes to go out there and sight see and still reassure us he is not out there killing people for fun. For a spirit bound for so long, it should be amusing to walk around following a mortal, not like they live for long. Just be careful to negotiate the deal so he won't overpower you, or mindmagic everyone around you, or any other plays in that vein."_

That seemed like a good working plan so far. I'm liking plan C already.

The General was all the way behind plan C too, _"_ _I Wish for this Beast to...serve me."_ He muttered darkly then turned his attention my way. _"_ _Commune with the odd spirit. Perhaps the words and wisdom of Scrage will ring true in his heart? Failing that...well I am not totally adverse to giving him the orb."_

Yii butted in then, he was down for the service plan – just a different master. _"_ _Can we arrange a deal to give him the orb in exchange for his service to Yume, and protect her, for a few years? He was willing to wait for the mimic to arrive, and I think it's only fair he'll be willing to pay us with his protection for that time he saved. We almost got shredded into pieces to get it, you know."_

He continued, explaining that by serving the team we'd get the best of all worlds. For one, he'd be freed from his imprisonment here and be free to move around. Maybe not totally free but we're not going to kick around forever like the shrine would. The mind magic was suspitious, but Yii seemed pretty confident that Yume would tame the beast. No innuendo intended.  
Besides, we'd be the one who got Yume her wolf pet so she'd owe us. After her defense of my integrity there, I'm happy to help Yume out. _"_ _All of this if he agrees to it, of course."_ Yii finished, _"_ _In exchange for the orb that will enable him to come with us: but I can't see why he'll disagree to that, seeing his happy face that already says he wants to come with her right about now."_

Arbit was right there with the gang, already thinking about future things Yume would do to the poor wolf _. "Got an interesting idea Master Yi."_ He said, grinning evilly all the while. _"_ _Yume wants a pet wolf, hunters need magical animals, a spirit wolf is special aaannndd need symbiotic relationship. The wolf need the orb, Yume need a toy wolf to play and dress up in ridiculous clothes. If Rigel is a handful, it might be easy for him to take care of her. Though remember he should give his real name to Yume to make it a real agreement - to spirits real name is binding."_  
He continued pacing around, muttering to himself almost, _"_ _If Yume gets him as a familiar let's ask her if she want to accessories him… Maybe a big pink frilly lace bow or collar with flowers and hearts decor."_

Damn Arbit. Brutal as fuck there.

The man in the suit, Lex, didn't agree. Not about the bowtie or colors though, about the master behind the collar we're trying to put on Woofus's neck. And he had a solid argument why. _"_ _Thanks to us, you are the only truly viable option here. Yume has a deal with Eldritch, let us not ruin that for her by forcing a contract here."_  
Right. Mind magic. I might get washed, but you guys are immune.

"Fine, I'll make a trade for the orb." I hissed out in defeat. The spirit's ears twitched and perked up.  
"Finally you see reason! I honestly have never met a more paranoid human – mind you, the worshipers of Rigel were always on the lookout for misfortune striking them. So I've _seen_ paranoid before."  
"I'm a whole bag of happy thoughts." My hand waved at his general direction, dismissively. "Anyhow here's my deal. I'll trade you the orb, but in exchange you become my familiar. I'm human so I won't live forever, when I die from either old age or a bad fight, you'll go ba-"

It looked like I'd punched him in the gut or something because he interrupted me once he recovered. "Wait, wait wait! You want my _name_?"  
I nodded slowly. "That's the thought…"  
"Are these ears on my head fox ears?! No – they're not! A fox might agree to that bargain, but I absolutely won't! I've got dignity! Wolf spirits _don't_ bow to anyone weaker than them. It's… I… just… it can't be done. It's unnatural." He paced around now, angry beyond anything I've seen him. It didn't make sense for him to be so irrational about this. Maybe it wasn't just that he wouldn't consider giving his name in exchange for anything. Or come to think of it, maybe he quite literally _cannot_ , by his very nature. A wolf follows the strong. A fox follows its curiosity. A bird must fly and a cat is aloof. You can't change any of that the same way you couldn't change the thought and tradition that were steeped behind it.

"I can't just trade my name away like that! If you want my name, then you're ready to put your own soul on the line in a fight against me? You'll lose you know!" That last part seemed to bewilder the heck out of him, just like it did on my side. Me? A two week old warrior pitted against a servant of a god? Fat chance I'd get anything more than a thoroughly bruised ego, and maybe death.  
"Not a chance in hell I'm fighting against you with my soul on the line. My soul is my own, thank you very much."  
He looked puzzled, then aggravated.  
"Don't even _suggest_ to take my name if you lack the courage to risk your own then." He hissed, even more disappointed in me. "I should strike you down right now for that insult."

There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice either, I could tell he was really debating to. The hands were sharp again, and his teeth seemed _longer_. The fur on his tail was puffed up, not to mention his entire stance looked like he was ready to leap and sink his jaws into my throat with every heated pace. Even Yume seemed scared, hands hovering over her tiny sword.  
"Wait – you're the one that suggested to fight here, I didn't say anything about fighting you!" I pled immediately, trying to defuse the situation. Goddamn it voices! These were the worst things to say to him one after another! He stopped and stilled himself, taking a deep breath. Woofus shuddered and sat back down once the moment had passed.

"You didn't. You're right. I'll remind myself you don't know anything about this world, really the only way to explain someone like you." At that he sighed, "What you suggested is to _take_ my respect - and you did so like it was just a passing thought or something to buy at the market for a few gold pieces. Other spirits would have attacked you for that. Remember this."

Should have put more thought into how he might think. Well, no sense in blundering further. I'm not in immediate danger, so I've got time to think this through now. The voices were clearly all over the place, and probably of no real help here. I sat down and did what I do best, see if I could salvage the situation. I traced back our conversation, studying it from his side.  
Lord Bleeding heart showed up to my side, whispering _"_ _He is a wolf spirit SB. Honor and Loyalty, and his response to fox spirits was pretty straightforward. Trust the fluff. I think I am quite competent in gauging people."_

I almost ignored him, but that sparked something in my head. It really came down to the simplest observation, like Bleeding Heart said, this was a wolf spirit. But what the hell was the difference between a wolf spirit and any regular old spirit? Was he a ghost? Had he been alive before?  
"Question." I asked him then, knowing I was driving down on his patience quickly. Woofus glanced over me, then shrugged.  
"Ask."  
"Are you the spirit of a dead wolf?"  
"What? No, I've never died."  
"Then, where do animal spirits come from?"

That got him stumped. He frowned, thinking. "We were needed. So we are. The oldest memory I remember was simply _existing_. I'm a wolf spirit, we guide the souls of dead wolves and their packs to the source. Protect them from wayward demons or wraiths that pray on souls. That's just what all animal spirits do. Before Rigel and his sister arrived, there were no wolf gods, so it fell to us to keep the balance. For as long as wolves were wolves, there were wolf spirits. Hell, I'm not even sure the two are wolf gods anyhow or just prefer to look like wolves."  
He looked human, he talked like one, hell – he probably had the same sense of humor as us too. But he's not human. He wasn't just a spirit – not like I thought of a spirit - rather he was an aspect of something maybe. A representation made manifest. It was jarring to think _differently_ like that.

"Can you shift into any form you want?" I asked next, trying to get a better sense of what I was looking at.  
"No, another being must give us permission to take on their race's shape. For example, when Rigel defeated me he had Harken give me permission to shapeshift into a human form. Intelligent being are among the only beings we can shift into, I can't ask a rabbit to shape myself into looking like one you know. You ask the strangest questions."

Humans have a wide swath of moralities and values, but it could very well be that spirits don't. I suppose this is what they meant by cultural shock, we're two different people here. And I'm sure he's misjudged me just as much as I've misjudged him. He clearly expected me to understand some things implicitly. With that said, there's really only one way forward that I could think.  
"I'm sorry I'm insensitive." I answered politely. "About everything. I don't mean offense, I just don't know your customs. I am worried that if I make the wrong choice a lot of people could die. That would be blood on my hands. I can't just make a choice without deeper thought into it."

That got a pause out of the wolf spirit.  
"Huh. Didn't take you as the type to swallow your pride and actually apologize when you're wrong." He scratched the back of his neck with a guilty look, "Ehhh, maybe I might have misjudged you... maybe. I can respect that reason at least. I'm still not going to let you just walk off with it, so if you're trying to trick me with this apology - it's not gonna be that easy."  
"No trick, I meant it. That apology is separate from the deal we're working on."

The wolf glanced nervously around him again, clearly off balance, scratching the back of his neck again. "Ah. Okay. Umm, water under the bridge I suppose. Sorry for being so harsh on you kid, but you were really driving a wedge into me, ya know?"  
"I do."

 _"_ _Why would this spirit be locked to the land if not for something he did? Surely, the gods of this land are not so capricious as to lock up a being for the sole reason that it lost a fight to it? What led up to the fight? Should we be worried?"_ Den pondered to the side, clearly skeptic. All good questions to be honest. Well, if I'm asking questions already, might as well go for broke.

"Can you tell me more about your fight with Rigel? This sentence here seems more like a prison, what exactly did you do?"  
The wolf raised an eyebrow questioning. "He came after me because I was among the strongest wolf spirits of course. He wouldn't settle for a weaker servant at his shrine, he barely has anyone funding them. There's only a handful out there in the world. It'd be like Rigel to try and get excited and go for the best."  
"But – how could he just forget about you?"  
"My master is the god of calamity, a victim of his own nature just as much as everyone else around him. His head priest died falling off a cliff after speaking with him. So what do you think happens to his closest servants? I'm no more immune to his luck then a human is, it just takes a lot more than a landslide caving in on me to end me. Misery follows Rigel like a shadow follows you, and it gets even worse when he tries to stop it. You couldn't stop your own shadow no more then he could stop his."  
"That doesn't explain why he forgot about you." I frowned.  
"He's the god of misfortune, kid. Add it together. What worse fortune is there for an immortal servant but to be forgotten by even his own master? He likely doesn't even remember my name or our fight."

Yume on her end had red eyes around, and sniffing slightly at the tale. "Yume doesn't know too well what Sobato and Wafu are talking about, but you're chained here yes?"  
The wolf took a glance and nodded. "Yep. Been kicking the dust off this place for the last hundred years. It's been real fun."  
"You need the orb Sobato has to be free?"  
"That's the gist of it, yep."

She turned to me and I could just tell what was going to come my direction. Except she got cut off.  
I heard voices in the background, "Silas!" It yelled. Manato. "Yume! Where are you two?" I could tell he was far away, but the shrine wasn't exactly a large maze either. In five minutes, the rest of the group will be on my feet. We still had a mission to complete and a deadline.


	20. Chapter 20

One oh three showed up with a ref's uniform on my side. I ignored it as best as I possibly could, keeping focus on the situation. _"_ _God damn it."_ The penguin muttered, _"_ _Upon further review the call on the wolf spirit is reversed no penalty on the play. So basically this was one big fuck up as far as I can tell. You fucked up being courteous to him, he fucked up with trying to mind control you, and We Fucked the hell up by over reacting and assuming he was evil."_

All in all, if he were an evil spirit, I'd be dead twelve times over by now. While the rest of the voices in my head were still being paranoid about… well, everything, I can't say I fault them. Everything innocent turned out to be not so innocent so far. Who'd have thought someone who looked obviously evil turned out to not be evil at all? It's like fate was just laughing at us at this point. The alpaca agreed at the side, glaring at the rest of the voice, _"_ _Gods, that paranoia train was painful to watch. People trying way too hard to be the cool, smart, aloof guy that never trusts anybody."_  
Spectrum raised an eyebrow, fan twitching. " _Yeah, I can't imagine why people wouldn't want to trust someone who casually uses mind-magic willy nilly. Kindly rein in your edge, there."_

Yeah, this world hasn't exactly done us much favors for being nice and trusting.  
Little innocent girl in the alleyway getting abducted? She's trying to rob you blind.  
Cute looking forest rabbit-magic-vacuum shows up with a ring? There's an undead skeleton chasing behind it and now it's after us.  
Wonderful chest filled with goodies? It's trying to _eat_ you and make your guts into the goodies.  
Giant evil spider, ex-general of the deathless king himself? Best friend ever, after we hugged it out.

That said we shouldn't make a sweeping generalization out of this either. If an orc shows up with a sword in its hand, looking like it wants to kill me I should probably go into it assuming that's exactly what he's going to do – and not whip out the tea and crumpets expecting there to be a very justified reason I didn't know about. The alpaca snorted at that, _"_ _Wafu left enough cues last time that at the very least, it was pretty apparent he wasn't going to murder every one and every thing with the power of the orb, and was not an active hostile. The excessive venom and, "refuse to hand over the orb even in death" were unwarranted."_

… well, there were plenty of orders on that come to think of it. Hell, I remember Yii telling me to die before I surrendered the orb. But what about the mind control? Spectrum's got a point, no one likes being a puppet to anyone else, and that's just plain evil. Den agreed with that point, _"_ _Hmm. Perhaps you are right to judge this spirit as honest and true, Collective, but even so, I still do not trust one who would be so inclined to toss around mental alteration magics around so lightly."_

 _"_ _He used no real forceful mind control, and at this point, pretty much everything he did has some logical reasoning behind it, making any more paranoia unnecessary. This has long crossed being just careful."_ Resident not-quite-a-llama explained, in detail.  
That didn't convince the fan. _"_ _He's not an active hostile so long as he gets what he wants. Saying everything he does has logical reasoning is a meaningless distinction when the 'everything he does' is still not necessarily in SB's interests. He literally said he'll fight SB if he tries to leave without letting him have the orb."_  
Can't even tell who's right on this one. I'll go with both and call it a day. The alpaca seemed to have the same idea since he promptly vanished.

Another of the voices murmured in my head, bringing me back on track. _"_ _In the end, you are you. You won that orb not just by yourself, but with the help of your friends. You must go, and you do not have the authority to decide for the group what your group needs from the wolf spirit."_  
Ahh, point.  
Laz continued, _"_ _You should discuss with your group before coming to the decision. He, as a century old wolf, will have knowledge, power, skills, and much more that you desperately need as new residents to this world."_  
"All right, but I didn't earn this orb by myself. My team took the monster out working together. I'll make a decision with the rest of them." I shot out quickly.  
Woofus shrugged, "I hope your leader isn't as mistrustful as you are. Otherwise, it's going to be a long afternoon."

We fucked up this time around, and got off on a really bad foot. But we made it work somehow. Spectrum's fan was spotted, which meant the woman would be nearby. _"_ _As for your doubt in us from before, please understand that we're dealing with a bit of lag here."_ She smiled. _"_ _This medium isn't the best suited for real time, neh? We can give you guidance and directly affect certain things but it requires a bit of prediction on our part for everything to line up just so."_

I suppose I'll buy that. I really should start paying more attention to my own gut, isn't one of the hallmarks of an insane person actually following what the voices said? That said, waiting for Manato to show up and deciding as a team was a smart move. Grabbing the bargain for only myself on a creature I was unconscious when it died didn't sit well in my moral compass here.  
Yume turned around, waving at someone. "Yume and Sobato are here na!" A rustle of shrubbery, footsteps on stone and the tapping of a cane on the ground. Two figures emerged into my view.  
Manato looked only slightly worried, while Shihoru trailed behind him.

"Just in time," I greeted the pair. "We found someone interesting here."  
Woofus on his part waved at the newcomers lightly, stood back up on the statue of Rigel, and leaped off it. The jump was graceful but completely unnatural; the wolf spirit defied physics. In a moment he had landed in front of the pair.

"Who are you?" Manato asked quickly, keeping his staff close by. Woofus groaned audibly at that, while I barked out to the blundering duo.  
"Introduce yourselves first! Trust me, it's polite."

Our priest took a measured glance at the man, then shot a second far more confused glance when he noticed the wolf ears perched on the man's head. Despite that, our leader recovered with grace at least. "…I'm Manato, a priest of Luminous." He extended a hand forward, which the wolf spirit took and shook naturally.  
Shihoru gulped at Manato's glance, then she spoke. "And I-I'm Shihoru, a mage."

The wolf nodded, taking a step back. With a flourish he introduced himself the same way he had for Yume and I. Before he was done, Yume and I had already made our way to our team. Manato looked a little pale, but composed enough.  
"So, Silas. Could you tell me what you're doing with a servant of… Rigel? _Especially_ with Yume here too."  
"You know about Rigel?" I asked, stumped. Well, shouldn't be surprised really. Manato was a priest, of course he'd know more about the gods and their squabbles then most. I'm pretty sure Rigel was a little known god come to think of it, since the first I heard of him was through the voices.

"Truth is stranger than fiction. Apparently he's not exactly an evil god." I admitted, continuing on.  
The wolf grunted out a quick correction, "Not evil at all kid. My master is a god of calamity. A natural force in the world. Not a very well-liked force by mortals sure, but just as necessary for the balance. He does important work even if the idiot isn't aware of it."  
"You speak about your god like this all the time?" Manato asked, amazed.  
"Rigel? Like he cares what people think about him." Woofus shrugged, "Not in his nature, he's got a thick skin. Besides, he hasn't been around this forest for over a hundred years, not since the deathless king showed up."

That pretty much shut down conversation between us all, so I took the opportunity to inform Manato of what went on. Including the orb and Woofus's deal. Took a good ten minutes to inform the missing members of our team.

"So, he won't let us leave with the orb, right?" The priest finally asked, after a long series of question and answers.  
"Not a chance in hell. I'd only let you leave with the orb if you left behind your hunter, that way I'd know you'd come back at some point."  
"That's not going to happen," Manato answered as if it were the obvious answer. Like you would comment on the weather really.  
"Silas, do you trust him?"  
"Define trust." I shrugged, but Manato stared me down on that. Eventually I relented. "Fine fine. As far as possible evil spirits, he gets failing marks. If he were a budding evil spirit, he's clearly an amateur and should consider a career change while he's ahead." That got a cross glare from Woofus.

The priest nodded, "I don't like the thought of releasing a servant of Rigel into the wilds, but I understand there's... good chance it's not as bad as that sounds."  
He left out that there wasn't much choice either. He was going to get freed with that orb even if he had to claw it from our cold dead hands. And that wasn't me being dramatic, I'm sure he'd do it easily. "Besides, we'll get something out of this. So let's discuss." Ah-ha! Even your own greedy pig is just as hungry as mine Manato!

Debate among the team was a lot faster than the debate in my head. Woofus offered us a few things, among the more interesting and exotic suggestions were names. One of the names of Rigel, which when spoken out loud would burn your throat and also cause terrible things around you. When asked what exactly it would do, Woofus laughed.  
"You're calling one of the god of _calamity's_ real name out into the moral world around you. You do the math."  
Apparently it would probably cause faultlines, landslides, small hurricanes, and so forth. The caster wasn't exactly safe from all that either making this the most blatant double edged sword I could think of. Needless to say, it didn't agree well with Manato.

Second thing he offered was the name for wolf-spirits. Not his name, but the name for his… err, race? Being? People? You can't exactly categorize spirits the same way you'd do with anything else. Back to the point – invoking this name would turn the speaker into a wolf. Not a half-wolf or anything like that, but a full great wolf.  
Yume was all but begging for that one. The problem was that Woofus thought trading a name for his freedom was fair – but one for one. He wouldn't teach the name to more then one person and was final about that. We wouldn't be able to teach one another either, names have to be given permission for use. As a guardian to Rigel, he was allowed to share one name of his god, and as a member of the spirit-wolves, he could bestow that as well.

Mochi whispered in my mind one other possible choice, _"_ _Something to consider is that if a deal goes through, he would be excellent as an advisor in regards to the potential dangers you might face here, so definitely not a pet/subordinate of yours, but an advisor or an ally."_  
Why the fuck not? I asked. "Hey Woofus, how about in exchange for the orb you join our team."  
The wolf raised an eyebrow. "Only if I lead it."  
""No."" Both Manato and I said at the same time.  
"Then I won't. Wolf spirits do not follow the weak. You either become _my_ pack, or you ask something else. Best I could do is follow for a week or so."

I heard grass getting chewed up behind me, but I kept my face even. _"_ _Guess having him hang around is a no go. Shit."_ The alpaca said neutrally.  
Yii showed up and gave me a quick speech about different definitions of strength. Both Lex and Bleeding Heart backed him up. But it was pretty obvious to me that Woofus here only cared about fighting and winning. Inner strength probably amounted to jack squat in his eyes. I wasn't going to start finding technicalities and arguing about it; he'd accuse me of being a fox spirit in disguise then blast me. Probably. I'm not being paranoid, I swear!

The wolf thought some more, "But, I could give you an item to call me over into this world whenever you need my help. Say three times."  
Manato had a reaction to that, "What's the catch?"  
"Takes an hour or two to breach the spirit world into the real one if I'm not being called by name. A ritual would make it faster, but you'll still have to pre-meditate when to call on me. Not a last second ditch item to use."  
A quick discussion between both of us, and we decided to shelf that for now. Possible. One thing was sure - we decided among each other whatever we got should benefit the entire group, not just one person. It was the group that had brought down the chest monster, and it should be the group that benefited from it.

Having Woofus play fetch with items and bring us back a nice stack of gear was tempting, especially to Manato but he quickly snapped out of his inner greed. Getting armor and loot would be short-sighted ultimately, we could obtain all of that over time. Right now, we had a chance to gain something very few people ever could – we should bring back something special that we'd never be able to earn otherwise.

The Alpaca seemed to shrug at my side, _"_ _Just ask for help getting a wolf puppy spirit or something then."_  
Which is where I said we might be able to get a spirit for our own team following that suggestion. Likely weaker then Woofus, but a spirit non-the-less. That got the OK among the team, and Yume seemed all about having something adorable on the team. That did not change up her plans on slowly converting the den mother.

"So." Our priest said, taking a breath. "Do we have to do anything now?"  
"Not a thing. Give me the orb and I'll free myself. You can have it back after a few seconds, shouldn't take long."

You'd have expected a confinement for a hundred years to be a grand and magnificent ritual, or at least have power cascade all over the area. You wouldn't further from the truth. All the wolf did was grab the orb out of my hand, shot it a disgusted look and circled around the wolf statue with it. Once he was done, he walked back like nothing had been done. The orb followed suit and dropped into my hands once more while the wolf seemed more preoccupied with wiping his hands. Like it had been some slimly slug he'd been holding.

"That's it?" I asked, perplexed.  
"Yep. Worked too, look." The wolf exclaimed, tilting his chin up. I saw the metal choker appear again but unlike before it was now frayed on the edges. Cracks had begun to appear all over. "Now that the chain has been cut off from the shrine, it'll take about three days before the spell unravels and I can leave. Ahh, it'll be good to step foot back home. I haven't fed in a full century!"  
"I'll go on a limb and assume you don't mean eating a human or anything…" I stressed. That only got him to give me his shark like smile.  
"Hmmmm. I think I'll start with you. Paranoid humans always taste better." He took a step forward, while I drew out my spear. Then he laughed, barking almost.

Unlike previously, I could feel genuine mirth behind it. "Ha! You should see the look on your face Silas! No, Humans don't agree with my stomach. If I had a stomach at least. You might be happy knowing us natural spirits hunt down and consume demons, wraiths, wayward monsters and the like you'll find in the spirit world. Plenty of things try and attack the souls we protect while we ferry our charge over to the source."  
It was Manato who sighed first between both of us.  
"What about the spirit you promised us?" Manato asked the wolf. To that, Woofus nodded. "Can't leave this shrine yet, not for another three days. But here, take this." The wolf spirit drew out his index finger, complete with pointy nail.

Then he swiped at his clothing, ripping off a small line of cloth from his sleeve. The wolf brought the piece close to his mouth and muttered something under his breath. Then he handed it off to Manato.  
"When you're ready to travel into the spirit world and hunt a worthy name, take this and burn it in a fire. I'll notice when the relic is destroyed and arrive wherever it was in an hour or two. Simple ritual really. After that, I'll take you all anywhere you wish in the Astral plane."  
"Anything you'd recommend we prepare for?" Manato asked, seeing this as the last chance.

The wolf paused for a moment. "Hmm, make sure someone stays behind to watch over your bodies while your souls traverse. I'll keep you safe from anything on the far side, but your physical bodies I can't protect. Can't be in two places at once."  
"And the spirits?" I prodded on.  
"Depends on what kind you're looking for. Wolf spirits, just challenge them to a fight. Lot of other spirits also value strength, so most of them are straightforward like that. Other spirits might ask for something else. You can't force a spirit to give you their name ya know. It's got to be an agreement kid. Defeating them in whatever challenge they offer – or that you offer if they swing that way, is simply a way to assure them you're worth giving their names to."

Then he patted my back easily. "Don't worry, I'll help you find the right spirit, that's what you paid for. There's thousands out there, all ages and shape. But I still recommend a wolf spirit, like I said – we're the best."

* * *

Comfortably hiding away in my armor was Elise, the relay spider. She'd dropped in without even my notice when we set off, until a good fifteen minutes outside the shrine, when I remembered I'd forgotten to pick her up. Took a look at her usual place expecting to see it empty. Instead found her there, watching me the same as she'd always done. Last Fang was sneakier than dream, considering I hadn't even noticed when the relay spider made it's way back.

While walking out of the shrine, Manato and I discussed. Most of it was lighthearted, but there was a serious question in his mind.  
"Do you think we're ready to traverse into the spirit world?"  
"No such thing as ready Manato, only ready enough."  
"Catchphrase of yours?"  
"Something like that. Came up with it while talking to Haru earlier. There's plenty of challenges out there that we'll face, might not even be fighting. I think we should either send one or two people – or send the entire group and have Kate watch over our bodies."  
"You trust her that much?" The priest asked, surprised.

I thought back on the elusive girl. The past week I'd seen her plenty of times and gotten breakfast more than once. She was always reserved around me, but I could at least tell she'd yet to lie about anything since that moment in the alleyway. Did I trust her? Not completely. But if I fucked up, the voices in my head would get a reset. And… I did want to trust her. Rather, I'd already committed to that hadn't I? I took responsibility, and that goes all the way.

"Why that setup?" Manato questioned next.  
"Easy. More people we send, the more things could go wrong. There's only one Woofus taking care of us. If he's only got to watch out for one person then he'll have an easier job. Depending on how dangerous the spirit world is at least. Considering we don't hear much about it, I'd say it's dangerous enough to kill gossipers."  
Manato nodded, "I see your reasoning for sending one person. Why the opposite setup?"  
"Because the spirits we're tackling on. If it's a fight, then we want to send our best fighter. If it's a cooking match, then we'll want to send our best cook. If it's a battle of wits, we'll want to send our best thinking. It might not even be a match at all if you think about it. Some noble spirit would choose to only follow someone equally noble, then we'd know to send you. Or maybe the spirit will only follow another soul as selfish as it, then we'll send Ranta."  
Manato chuckled at that, "So we don't know what the spirits would want to challenge us on, except for a wolf spirit."  
"Yep. Brining the full team, we'll have the best chances of matching the right person for the right job if the situation changes."

We discussed some more, but the gist of it was that. We could eliminate a few members off the roster for the most part, but not much more. In another half hour we were at the cave. Then things got, as expected, _much worse_ : It was goddamn boring and pitch black too. Remember those spiders with bad attitudes and the fangs? Yea, there were creepy crawlies down here _somewhere_. No I'm not being paranoid! I just hoped getting stung by something while fumbling in the dark could be healed, all I'm saying. Which I was thankfully proven right.  
The mushrooms would grow in the darkness, finding them was a matter of luck. You had to stumble around using a torch, scanning every wall for those blasted mushrooms – which looked more like mold then mushrooms truth be told. Then you'd need to reach in and pluck it while holding your breath. Why the breath? Because god knows what's lurking inside mossy fungus on walls in the middle of a cave. Why, certainly not bugs with sharp stingers. Fuckers.  
Once we had enough slimy fungus in our baskets, we trekked back up and made our way back. I slinked back to the rear and closed formation. In truth, I wanted to talk to Last Fang a bit. More source of information.

"Connect with me." I muttered under my breath, then felt the probing thoughts of the broodmother.  
 _Yes?_  
Did I make a good trade? I thought back and felt her rustle through my memory at my question. It hurt like a migraine but lasted only a second or two.  
 _An interesting situation. The deathless king never had to fight Rigel, the god of calamity never appeared whereas her sister fought him tooth and claw. Perhaps he was as careless about the world as the wolf spirit suggests. However, I am… worried about your trek into the spirit world._  
Oh? How so?  
 _I cannot follow. You will move your entire soul into that world, and leave your body behind. Should I do so, my colony will be left leaderless. I cannot leave. Once in that other world, I will be unable to contact you._  
Is that a problem per say? We'll be protected by Woofus. Besides, can the Ash Huntsman even travel into the spirit world?  
 _It could not when I knew it, nor did it care to. However, it was cunning and always sought knowledge like a sunflower seeks the sun. It may have found a way over time._  
Right. You're always going to worry about even the smallest chances something goes wrong eh?  
 _Yes, fledgling. I command my colony with detail and do the same with my life._

We didn't even get close to the camp before Haru appeared out of the shrubs to greet us. He had a hard look on his face, but seemed… well, alive.  
"Silas! Manato!" He grinned, greeting us quickly with a high five.  
"How was camp?" Manato asked immediately, to which Haru nodded. "We got attacked by gobs, but we killed them all before they could run away. Nothing else happened."  
"Good job Haru, had it in you like I thought." I slapped him hard on the back, grinning widely. He returned it right back, clearly happy with the praise. Deep down, we all just want to be recognized for our efforts I think. Haru had been the star of the show today, killing the chest monster and keeping the team safe while we did the boring mushroom job.

The clearing was reached in a few minutes, where we met up with Mogzo and Mary sitting side by side, keeping a watch over Ranta. They both glanced up at our approach. Mogzo smiled broadly, standing up and coming to greet us, while Mary simply nodded in my direction.

"How's our little twerp?" I asked, making my way to our reserve priest. The rest of the group were catching up, Yume detailing to Mogzo and Haru our run in with Woofus.  
"He's very pleasant when he's asleep." She answered neutrally.  
"Ah. Well, if what I heard was right, we'll get a full week of rest from Ranta. Almost like a vacation." I chuckled.  
"Who will take care of him while you are away?" Mary asked next, suddenly serious.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Someone will need to be by his side, keep him fed and clean while he is incapable."  
I shuddered at the thought of keeping Ranta clean. "Has that been on your mind this entire time?"  
"I have put some thought into it, yes."  
"Then, nose goes?"  
That got a derisive snort from her, "I think not. Take this more seriously."  
"Fine. Rock paper scissors."  
"Silas. I have a staff with a sharp end, remember?"  
"Ahh, but this time I'm not on the ground!"  
"I don't need that handicap." She shot back calmly. Ouch.  
"Draw straws?"  
"You're trying my patience. Please stop being so carefree about this situation."  
"Psh, fine. I suppose we'll be smart about it. Only because you asked though."  
"Thank you. Who will stay behind?"

I thought about it, scratching my chin and dimly realizing a problem: I was starting to have stubble, I'd need to buy a razor soon. Oh wait, that's not what we're talking about is it?  
"I'd have to speak with Manato about it-"  
"Manato is a good leader when it comes to finding assignments and giving direction forward." She cut me off, "I trust you more when it comes to choosing people for his assignments."  
"Ho. Is that a compliment?"  
"Don't be a pain." She scoffed, but there wasn't that bite she had in her voice for Ranta. The real telling piece of evidence was her hands. Over the past week, she'd developed a habit, and I'd noticed. Her left hand rested on her belt every now and then, right where her potions stood. I could see from the corner of my eye her thumb, tracing the smooth glass. She had plenty of potions on her toolkit so it could be any. But of course a habit is only a habit because it's repeated the same way each time. Thus I could guess exactly which potion she'd always check was still on her belt.

"I take it then that your time here in camp with Mogzo and Haru taught you something?"  
"Please stop being so insufferable." She glared at me then for a moment.  
"I notice you haven't said no." I grinned back, looking her dead in the eyes. A lot of people would be put off by her attitude. But they'd be ignorant.  
She turned around quickly, avoiding my gaze and glancing at the ground. One of her arms crossed over her chest protectively. It took a moment, but she spoke eventually.  
"I… yes. Haruhiro and I… talked."  
"About?"  
"Do you really have to ask?"  
"Naw, I can guess pretty well. But it's fun asking."  
"I _will_ hit you."  
"Then you'd have to heal me."  
"Suck it up, you're a warrior right?"  
"I'll call that a bluff this time and raise you the question again."

She groaned and continued to bore a hole into the dirt. I simply waited. Just a matter of time now. I'm the most stubborn person here - minus Ranta but he doesn't count right now.  
"Haruhiro… he talked to me about his time here. What he thought. His life up to this point. It was,"  
Mary didn't finish that part, instead sealing her lips. Was she about to say 'nice'? Peaceful? Felt like she was spending time with a friend instead of just another teammate? Something to that.

"See, having time to get to know your teammates is an important part in my group. Since you don't spend time with us in the tavern, I'll find other prescriptions for that." I grinned at her, "You know Yume was really happy when she got a compliment from you. She thought you were really cute." She thought everything was cute, but I didn't say that of course.  
Mary tutted, "I'd rather you minded your own business."  
"Truthfully?" I shot back. No answer, but I could see her hand hold the deeper thoughts potion of hers slightly tighter. What that meant, I couldn't quite guess.

"Well, I'll stop pestering when you decide to come by the tavern and eat with us you know."  
"… not yet." Mary replied, almost in a whisper. The priest was looking over Ranta, a concerned expression on her otherwise neutral face. She does care. A lot more than she did a week ago, and even then she did care too. But it wasn't quite there yet for all of us, it would take more than just a week. I was playing the long game.  
"That's fine." I answered cheerfully. "We're not a replacement, so take your time and do it right." I reached out and held her shoulder, giving a light squeeze when she heard my words.  
She's thin, that's the first thing I thought. I could feel the delicate shoulder-blade through my leather gloves in that squeeze, the tensed muscles relaxing slightly. She seemed so small and fragile, my hand felt like it had covered her shoulder completely. It was probably the first time I really thought of her differently than the troubled mind. I couldn't help but be aware at how taller I was compared to her, and the rest of our physical differences.  
I felt oddly... protective of her in that moment. It was a ridiculous thought; Mary was by far one of the stronger persons I've met. If I lost anyone on my team, I'd be a drunken wreck let alone a functional human being. Yet here she was, not quite _trying again_ but _moving on_. Maybe that day she smiles will actually come one of these days.

I used her shoulder to stand up, getting ready to rejoin the group. There was still something else left unsaid that I should fix right now. "Also, errr…" My hand scratched the back of my neck guiltily, which only reminded me of that damned wolf. I sighed and just let it out.  
"I'm sorry about almost leaving you with the mimic. I didn't realize it affected you that much, and I should have. It was a bad call."

Mary didn't answer, instead she chose to level me with that gaze of hers. I didn't look away, waiting as usual. She had something to say. A few seconds pasted as she searched through my eyes for something. Then she answered. "…you were not awake for the last part of the fight, you had no way of knowing." And in Mary speak, that would be equivalent to _I forgive you,_ I think.  
"Hmm. All right." I answered with a slight smile. "There's something else too: Thank you for standing up and telling me off about it. I might have been cross at the moment, but I… well, I appreciate it I suppose. Don't ever be afraid to do it again. I make mistakes all the time."

Mary nodded slowly, her piercing gaze as icy as ever. Nothing to be data-mined from her face this time. That face of hers took a shade of terrified and alarmed when we told her about Rigel's shrine and the spirit we found there. She chewed us off then something fierce, but with enough explanation we got all the message across eventually. Yume had no idea who Rigel even was apparently. It had completely slipped her mind until Mary mentioned the hostility between Rigel and his sister. Only then did Yume remember. That hunter needs to dye her hair blond. No, I'll dye it blond for her myself if I have to! There's _got_ to be a potion of hair color change. I'll even grab a pink one for Ranta while I'm at it.

We packed up the rest of our gear, and set off back home lugging around a comatose dread knight in tow. Since Last Fang's warriors scouted ahead for us, we had absolutely no trouble returning home.  
One pseudo-angel walked at my side. _"_ _I am kind of sad you have forgotten your cute little game whenever we get new members of my kin, but meh I am fine with dropping that game. Well about today I apologize for bothering you with my attempt to cheer you up earlier."_ Guess today everyone's saying sorry to everyone else! Great. I'm long over it, don't worry.  
Chaos explained once more that all their messages were pre-recorded, so there was no way of telling ahead of time I wasn't in any mood to hear pity.

Halfway through the forced march, I got another visitor. Not that they ever left, they were always floating around just out of my sight.  
 _"_ _Hello there Silas."_ It said.  
Dommo. I thought back without much.  
 _"_ _My name is Onii-sama, but you can call me anything you wish, so long as it is not half-assed."_  
Is that a challenge? I glanced over at the other voices who made themselves scares. That's a challenge right? Totally a challenge. But the problem was I ran out of names a while ago. Can I call you rock? Or stick? Maybe even tree. I glanced around me for something nicer other than dirt there wasn't even a neat pebble under me. You get lucky for now Onii – I'll figure something cute later. Heheheheh.

 _"_ _I have been watching for some time but now, I can finally contact you without fear of you losing your head should it boil down to a fight."_  
Ah. Right. I remembered when Rag introduced himself, three hundred feet in the air, while I was being carried away to certain doom. I chatted a bit more with the new voice, turns out it had been working behind the scenes, debating with the others on possible solutions to my problem.

By the time we reached Altana's walls, we were two hours before sunset, which was early for a group our size but nothing odd. Ranta was dragged all the way back into the inn and unceremoniously dumped into bed. I kid, we took a few minutes getting him comfortable and scribbling things on his face while we had the chance. Also joking, Mary swatted my hand with her staff the moment I brought out the ink and feather pen. If it weren't for the armor plates on my hand, that probably would have hurt like a bitch. During the trip he'd woken up four times, rambling about demons, Skullheil, girls, and money.

Mary left as usual, back to her home once we'd divided the loot and settled all accounts. Manato left to the alchemy guild to turn in the quest while the rest of us hit the tavern minus Mogzo, who stayed behind to keep a watch over Ranta. The big man seemed to have a soft spot for our resident twerp.  
The real catch of the day was our agreement to spend tomorrow off. We'd go down the district and buy ourselves gear, items, potions, and such with that shiny gold piece we'd all got. Stock up on the best things and enjoy our spoils. We decided to buy our Crimson Moon badges as a full group, once Ranta was up and healthy.


	21. Chapter 21

Cracking an eye open exposed a faint orange glow of a dying bonfire. Which wouldn't have been strange at all had I not remembered that there wasn't a bonfire anywhere near the bed – it's a straw mattress. Fire is bad. Very bad.

That made me jump up with a yelp, only to realize I wasn't on my bed at all. Actually, there wasn't even a single bed around me. I'd been sleeping on the rocky floor this entire time. Which made no sense because I clearly remember going to fucking sleep on my goddamn uncomfortable piece of shit mattress just today. Why am I so irritated you ask? Well, glad you did! Because there was something else I realized just then: This is a dream. A lucid dream, and I got a terrible feeling on who the fuck is behind this. Namely, those freeloaders in my head.

"Is there nothing sacred to you punks?" I groaned out, finding a good wall to lean back on. I was in some sort of towerbase, a bonfire with a sword in front of me and the entire place looked like it'd been abandoned. There was something eerily nostalgic about this area, like I knew where I was. Spectrum was at the opposite end, fan lightly moving around.  
"Oh SB, I told you, it's training time~" She explained with what I imagined was a grin. I could feel the other voices had pitched in to help too. "As I said, we've been too lax on you. You're barely using your equipment effectively, you know? You're just sitting there and take small hits with your shield and blocking instead of trying to parry."  
"I plead the fifth and want my lawyer." I grunted, arms folded in front of me.  
"If you can intercede your shield more effectively, you can stop the enemy's attack before they can really begin to swing and open them up for a counterattack. Luckily for you, I've got just the place for you to practice!"

Then a video fed into my head and from the very first moments I knew exactly where I was. The good old sunny world of Dark Souls. These motherfuckers actually went and tossed me into another world. A world filled with soul-seeking mindless hollows that want nothing more than to ram anyone more alive than they are with steel. And firebombs too since I was in the undead burg and that's what they did to folks around these parts. Let me say that again: _Fire_. _Bombs_. I think we all know how painful that really is. Spectrum continued, "If you get too discouraged for the night, just speak up, and we'll let you off, but I expect a good number of tries before you do so, young man!"

"Great! I give up, beam me back Scotty." I answered back immediately. I was cordially ignored of course.

Chaos was right beside her, like a henchman. Or henchwoman. Hench-angel. Hench-pseudo-angel. Yep. That's the ticket.  
"Good luck! I believe in you!" She cheered with a smile. I tossed a rock at her, which bounced off her chest plate. I think the message was passed however. What? I don't have to be polite when they're literally messing with my dreams here! At least sweeten the pot somewhere! I could tell from the glances between the two she'd be up the next night with some other fantasy world out there. Well, y'all are batshit insane if you think I'm going to take this without a fight!  
My mind immediately set on finding ways to subvert this. Memory fed me the rest on this world in moments, turns out: I had _played_ this. Dark Souls was a game, and in my past life before grimgar I did spend time playing. I can't recall any other detail, but I suppose it'll make do for now. Which meant I knew **exactly** what to do. Don't underestimate me!

The trusty spear was set gently to the side of the wall, right next to my shield. Hands folded neatly in front of my knees and the long process of wiggling my thumbs waiting began, while practicing the smuggest smirk possible. Heh. Hehehehehe.  
You can lead a horse to the stream, good luck making this one drink. See the great thing about this game – the hollows aren't going to come chase after me so long as I don't do anything stupid. All I have to do is relax, take it easy and eventually I'll wake up the normal way. What's the worst the voices could do? Send Revya again?

The winner of the smug smile award went to Spectrum, despite my best efforts. See, while my plan was pretty solid, I hadn't accounted for one thing: She sweetened the pot. And worse – she used my own nature against me.  
"If you make it all the way to the final fog door for the area," The fan was out, shyly doing its job hiding her smile. This is the pose that would make fox-spirits jealous. I don't like where this is going. No Sam I am, I don't like this at all. "Why, Spectrum-oneesama just might have a treat ready for you~"

In came the images of aprons, cooking, and the usual cliché that came with the turf. No. _No, no,_ _ **no**_ _,_ that's not fair! You can't do this, that's a penalty! Minus fifty DKP, someone call a red card! Spectrum stalked forward, figure changing with every word. Ref! REF! REEEEEF!

"Or...would you prefer to dream about eating some~"  
Step.  
"Thing~  
Step.  
"Else~?"  
Step.

By the time she was clearly trespassing uncontested in my personal space, she'd disappeared completely – and in her place stood Mary. Blue hair, beautiful legs, silky skin and all covered by that white piece of lacy clothing. That just- _barely_ long enough apron kept it all together with one _tauntingly_ easy to pull string.  
My tra-la-la punched me in the gut right then and there; wide awake and taking over my mind faster than cotton candy melts in a mouth. An armored leather glove looking suspiciously like my own reached out but Mary was already gone before I could grab and yank that string.

"Are you really trying to bait him with thinly veiled sexual actions here Spectrum? Really? Have some Class for craps sake. I mean really." General muttered angrily behind the wall. Thinly veiled he said. Thinly. Veiled. That's the understatement of the century. I'll tell you exactly what was 'thinly veiled' here – that apron was just _slightly_ see through. The exact amount for _maximum_ jimmy rustling, I'm sure there was cold hard math that was put into that tiny piece of white lingerie. I'd swear on my excalibur I could see her outlines and the blush of skin through it. Straight up weapon of mass destruction against men. Shit should be banned by NATO, or at least pushing blue ball treatment in the bill.

Spectrum had an answer for that too. "Oh, he's a healthy young man in his prime. Leave your own repression at the door. There's nothing harmful about a little dream..." She replied dismissively, fan at the ready once more. Lord Bleed Heart was on the other end of the room, joining the discussion. "There are a few dozen of young healthy men in their prime, running around Geoff's tower of madness. Please wear a swimsuit under the nude apron for sanitary reasons."

My head says yes, but my zucchini says fuck you. With a cactus.

Bleeding Heart heard none of that. "And do be aware that if somebody misguides the essential elven army to their designated battlespace due to you 'appearance' they might misguide it further up the place where your backside loses its noble name..."  
Which sounded like gibberish to me, but who knows if that meant something to the voices? Once again, proven correct that I was certified insane. My spear and I sat by that wall, flustered beyond anything I'd been for the past two weeks. It's like my body had just remembered it was still a man, which also came with the king under the mountain to deal with.  
See, LN protagonists are safe from this sort of attack. They'll just curl up, go beet red, stutter a bit – maybe have a nosebleed - and then it'll all go away after a good laugh from the audience, never to be brought out again. For me though, it only reminded me what I'd been putting to the back of my head for the past week.

Then I stopped taking things seriously. My decision train whipped around into the _I-no-longer-care_ territory once I remembered this was my own damned dream. It was an off the rails train wreck from there on. Mr. Sniffles and his two kids had won the war hands down, currently busy trouncing the remaining wrecks of decency in my head. While I was having my introspective moment of one-sided civil war, General huffed on his rebuttal.  
"If he wakes up with a boner and the girls notice, I am going to eat you alive damn it. That said I do support your er...mind training?"

By that time, I was back on my feet, spear in hand and a decision in mind. Fuck it. Why not? I mean really. After that show? I did say they had to sweeten the pot, I didn't expect them to dump blue paint into that pot then smash my two amigos with it. "Oi, the only people around me right now are the other guys." I insisted, "Unless you guys managed to make me sleepwalk, I won't be showing morning wood to anyone who had the equipment to take it."

Spectrum protested for me, "They're in town. If he wakes up like that and one of girls is in a position to notice, he's doing a lot better than I thought~"  
…That would mean one of the girls sneaked into my bed. Which can't happen because I'm not an LN protagonist, like Spectrum pointed out ages ago. Never go full LN protagonist, a mantra I took to heart. Manato's the LN protagonist remember? And he's… literally sleeping in their room right now! _See?!_ More proof for the damned. Next we know, he'll have a harem orbiting around him before the king summons him for that plot hook to save the kingdom. And don't forget the sudden but inevitable reveal that he's really the cast aside crown prince all along raised by farmers.

Chaos nodded at the discussion. "I would be impressed if he still shows effects of the image that appeared in his dream when he goes meets the others. Even more impressed if forgot his ~condition~ in his dazed state till one of his friends point it out to him, in which case a certain dino General is going to be having Spectrum for Dinner..."  
I snickered at that. Poor choice of words General. You know what? If we were going to be crass, we better do it right and go all the way. Mary was stunningly beautiful, and after that sight I can't say I haven't noticed her anymore. And I'm definitely saying that only because the schwartz is on mission Mary or bust now.

I stormed out of the tower, charging straight across a small bridge with my spear in both hands. The weapon banked to the first undead it spotted. The dead thing raised a sword up in the air to deliver pain, but hell if I waited for it to politely finish. One stab and yank latter, I'd thrown him off the steps and off the side of the bridge. A well timed roll to my left let me avoid a crossbow bolt and I cudgeled the arborist's head in with the prongs on my spear. The ruined helm dented and the skull fractured. Somehow it was still moving despite the catastrophic damage. In the next moment, it too joined its friend at the bottom of the city, thrown off the high walls it had been guarding. I like tossing things off high places. And so did the defenders of murder bridge, which was just up ahead.

Murder bridge, a thin narrow rampart of wall which would be carpet bombed by hollows standing on the roof waiting. Great real estate, you can say it comes with its own fireworks crew.  
"What the fuck Spectrum..." Yii said to my side, having shown up now that the danger was dead. Well… _more_ dead. Tossed-off-the-wall dead, you can't get deader than that. Probably.  
"I didn't know you were that kind of malicious! Remove that filthy image from my sight immediately!" He snarled, glaring at the woman behind. She probably rolled her eyes, then grinned evilly. "You should see what it was like before I cropped it~ Oh, she has such clear and soft skin..."

I'd seen the real thing thanks to my dream filling in the blanks, so yes – I absolutely agree. Yi didn't bother further with her, instead he turned to my direction. "Yes, Sobato... Mary is indeed a very beautiful waifu when she's not wearing anything other than an apron, and I think Spectrum envied her just a little for that... please forgive her."  
"Forgive her?" I wondered for a moment, examining the bridge like a dead row inmate would examine an electric chair. "You realize I'd be sitting at the tower laughing my ass off at you all if she hadn't right? Besides, you all pop up as anything you goddamn want to be. How's jealousy even possible?"

I took a step onto the bridge of terror, like a cat testing the water with its paw. One moment later rolling backwards for very good reasons. Good news everyone – the bridge works just like the game!

Yii tutted. Not at the bridge that's on _fire_ of course. There were far more important things to worry about. "Seriously, Spectrum... I admit that sometimes I'm also guilty of sharing with you some sexy stuff that I got my hands on, like my ideal image of a Fox Girl Servant, but it's an entirely different matter if we are showing it to SB and it's about one of our own members! About Mary, most of all!"

I took another step on that stupid bridge, rolled out of the way when the inevitable bombs blew up all over the place, then charged straight forward through the smoke because I was an idiot on a mission. Shield raised and spear at the ready. Seriously. Who runs over a bridge that's been _bombed_.  
"SB needs to concentrate now to do something very important," said Yi, only to be interrupted by Lex who'd tagged along silently behind till now. "Making her smile is the most important of his tasks, isn't it Spectrum?" He grinned. She shot back thumbs up. They were up to something, mark my words.

Master Yi just steamrolled past, getting his word in. "You know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't distract this healthy young man with suggestive images of someone who might as well be his reincarnated Mother!"  
"Wait _what?!_ " I took another swing at a hollow on my side, knocking its helmet off while its buddy tried to get past my shield unsuccessfully. The third guy was swatting in between but getting body blocked by his friends. "What do you mean by reincarnated mother?! Ack, just fucking stay dead already!" I barked right after, running my spear into the annoyance and dragging out my dagger. Keep that spear in your chest you dead bugger.

Yi didn't answer back on that one, a greedy glint in his eyes, "That said, where in the Archive did you get that? This is clearly a corrupt entry, I'll have to go erase it from the source itself..." Already I could hear the whistling sound of the next volley of bombs being tossed into the air.

I stabbed the final hollow straight through its skull, pinning its weapon hand at its side while I ripped the bones apart using my dagger as a glorified gardening tool. I'd rolled into the building right when the bombs exploded behind, just in time. The remaining undead were quickly put down by steel and shield. Surprisingly they weren't very strong at all. They all telegraphed their attacks all the way from last week, and committed to the swing even if it hadn't hit. It was simple to just abuse the attack from every direction. Still. Caution must be exercised. If I die, then my two krakens would give me agony beyond mortal comprehension in the morning. It was a matter of life and death here on more than one front.

Spectrum was observing the wreck of dead-er bodies I left behind in my wake. "Oh, if a little incentive here and there keeps him focused and also keeps him from making a fool of himself in the waking world by trying to peep on the baths, it's worth it."  
I disagreed on one part, "Oi oi, wait just a second here. Are you calling me a perv Spect?" I yelped back loudly, which got the attention of nearby hollows. Not that I was going to let them ruin my fun.

Only after I beat down the three back into their graves did I realize the truth of the situation. I was systematically mauling my way through an army of undead for a chance at snu-snu with a blue haired model. That sentence sounds a lot more dreamlike then I ever suspected. Change of plan. I'll wear my perv title with pride then. It's not a negative if I say it's a positive! Good old politician thinking there. America would approve… America? Ahh, probably someone I knew from the past I suppose. Another relic holding cobwebs in the back of my brain.

Chaos was sitting at Spectrum's side, following along from the rooftops. "Let her have some fun, it is quite fun teasing our Host," She tutted to Yii. "But please do so when Sobato isn't training. I doubt he can die but a careless mistake like getting your head chopped off can be annoying."  
I gulped at the thought, steeling up the will to charge the next tower. Getting my head chopped off would definitely be a little annoying. That's the word, yep.  
There's an archer up there that'll shoot my back if I passed without clearing it. Stupid level designers got tips from Satan himself.

"Anyways Mary is a nice girl, but let's try to let S.B decide - and not push him to anyone till he is really ok? Doesn't mean we can't tease him about what girls he is currently crushing on~ "  
That brought my momentum to a dead stop for a moment, thinking. Mary was… Couldn't make up my mind even after a minute of thinking. Sure, my ding ding dong was pounding me about a very specific apron wearing girl, ogling every detail she had or was imagined to have. Few men would look at Mary and think nothing of her, fact.

It was fun to trade words with her, like petting a cat. You never know when you've hit the exact number of belly rubs before the claws come out. She was someone I respected, a friend. Someone I wanted to see smile someday. I did feel protective of her – but that could be because I'm a tank. It's my job to stand in front of anything that might hurt her and take the damage to my face. It's not like I like her that much or anythi- fuuuuuuuuuuck. Did I just _seriously_ think that? Yep. I did. Silas Bell, 100% confirmed tsundere bell.

That got me to sit down on the steps and re-evaluate my life. I don't do things half-assed, that's what I decided. Sure I do thing _stupidly_ every now and then – but at least I've done them after careful consideration. Here is the big question: Have I developed an unknowing crush on Mary over the week, and Spectrum's showcase here triggered the floodwaters that'd been building up? Or was I running up this gauntlet just because deep V diver here decided it had been limp for too long?

A few minutes passed, and I came to a conclusion: There was no way to tell right now. My head was a mess of emotions, and a lot of it lust. I'd need to think it further once I wasn't getting suggestions from Vlad the Impaler.  
Storming the rest of the steps, my spear ambushed the arborist on the top, tossing it off the tower and hearing a satisfying crunch of metal and bone against ground. With the job done, my feet carried me back down. Where I ran into a seriously weird sight. A ghost woman wearing the exact same armor I did, spear and shield to match. A sign held by rope, around her neck, reading "I'm cursed."

I could hear Revya snickering on the background. Right, I remember. He threatened I'd become Kate's big sister if I fucked up somewhere. As it were, I'm well on the path. My chimichangas were going to blow in less than two hours unless the lieutenant gets polished. Maybe it's because of my situation here, but female SB was pretty cute. And she had a rack too.

The prongs on my spear made quick work of shield wielding hollows. I'd hook the side of the shield, yank it away, and bite back with the steel tip into their chests. Up next was dodging a barrel on fire, running up the steps and slaughtering another hollow. Home stretch baby. The last few steps were reached. The fog wall stood in front of me. I love it when I win.  
Patting down my armor, I made myself presentable then stepped foot through the fog imagining as hard as I could a bed and somewhere nice.

Wish granted. Walking through was a modern home, looked like an apartment. Wall window and all, with a king sized bed right at the foot - great view from high up over a dark forest… which I recognized and quickly put out of my head. The problem was that the room was empty. I walked forward quietly, cautiously for some trap. Nothing came. I took off my gloves and set my spear aside. I'd gone this far, if the voices yanked the rug on me here, I'd seriously file for a class action lawsuit.

There was indeed a trap here. Suddenly, hands reach around my chest, pulling me backwards lightly to a soft and warm stop. Someone was hugging me from the back. Gently too, which made me relax a moment after I had frozen up. "Mary?" I asked, turning around.

Indeed, it was blue hair I noticed first, alongside blue eyes. She was there, looking up to match my gaze. Her hands let go lightly as I turned around, while mine took over, bringing her closer to my chest. I felt the smooth contours of her exposed back, the white apron and my armor being the only thing that separated us while my hand traced for more. She smiled. The sort of smile that you knew _belonged_ on her face. I cupped her cheek with a free hand and drew her closer, mesmerized.

What happened after was between me and myself, and certainly none of your business.  
Because the moment before I could kiss the girl; I woke up. Textbook bait and switch. You know – everyone gets trust issues because of raisin cookies at some point in their life - but this took the entire cookie jar and ran away with it.

 _You dicks._

How did I know I was really awake this time? Because straw, snoring and the damp chill of winter were all around me in spades. Laid in my straw mattress for a good ten minutes, looking at the wall. Deciding if going back to sleep was an option - or just get on with the day. On one hand, those fuckers in my head might be waiting for me to do just that. On the other hand, early bird gets the worm. And I needed to get rid of the morning oak here discreetly.

Despite the toss up, I went with option two and got ready for the day. Unlike yesterday's slog through dark caves and malevolent chests, today would be spent through good food and shiny merchant stalls. Can't wait thinking about it: a day off, no need to stab something, no need to worry about getting stabbed, no hard choices. Bliss. There was some business to handle of course, always was, but for the most part it'd be mine to do whatever I damn well pleased.

With that said, on went my hoodie and the rest of my old world leftovers once I was done cleaning up. Felt like home again. If I could remember it anyhow. Probably should aim to buy something more fitting with the world on second thought, comfort clothing to wear you know? And maybe safety reasons too… definitely safety reasons. Looked like a perfect target for thieves in this with a massive 'All you can scam' buffet sign strapped to my back. No I'm not being paranoid damnit.

My feet swiftly took me out into the cold streets on autopilot where I soon found myself before the walls of Altana. Climbed up the stairs, took a few turns and sat down. Nice slow minutes passed watching the sun raise in peace. Last Fang was always around of course, but she didn't disturb me in the slightest. It's a great view of the valley from here, honestly probably the best view of the place. Not a lot of people get a moment to come by, even if it's as close as five minutes. The other spot was a bridge on the high rise of the city, but there was traffic there every now and then. Totally deserted here which is exactly what the doctor prescribed.

I thought back over those dreams. The first part was annoying. That latter part definitely had my interest but also horror when I thought of several dozen… people? Entities. Right, several dozen entities being voyeurs over my private life. You try having happy go lucky fun time with a crowd cheering you on. Either it's your kink, or you're not going to have a good time. I'm not even safe in my own dreams. The whole situation reminded me that testing needed to be done on my side of things, figure out exactly how to pull the wool over their eyes on demand. I suspect it has a lot to do with the inner voice narrating everything I thought.

I'd need to resolve my mixed feelings about Mary as well, now that I was calmed down. But I found that my feelings hadn't changed at all despite Mr. Johnson stepping down since this morning. Did I actually care for Mary as more than just a friend? Didn't know. There's a big difference between normal lust and feeling something click. Likewise, there's plenty of people that don't click at all but instead find themselves together just because life turned that way. And they make it work too, building something together from nothing. So really, I had no answers at all right now.

That made me decide to go looking for her today, maybe over lunch with Manato and Shihoru. Seeing her face to face might give me some hint on what I'm looking for. If… If I really did like Mary, it would certainly be unrequited. She has rejected every single person that's asked her. I'd be no different. Well, that's going to suck.

Mogzo would be waking up around this time and getting ready too. Probably cooking breakfast. We both agreed to skip conditioning and the usual workout in the morning – today was our day. Manato and Shihoru would be staying for the moment today with Ranta. Like Spectrum said, _"_ _No sense in overexposing any one particular person to Ranta or boring any one person by sidelining only them with not much else to do. You should slot the priests in on the first two days, then people who can deal with him best while he's lucid can be there on the last day. On Shift 2, you can also attempt to take the opportunity to teach him how to read, between you and Mary."_

Once my fill of the morning sun was good, my mind set into motion. The usual routine was meeting Kate for breakfast and I certainly wasn't planning on being late. In a few minutes the usual meeting point was in sight. Finding a nice crate, I happily sat down and did what I do best – twiddling thumbs and not getting anything done.

Time passed while merchants and the general population meandered back and forth. Then the tell-tell footsteps came out of the alleyway. Kate came trotting by, same clothing and all that she'd always worn. The young girl approached with a nod.  
"Did the chest mission work out?" She asked.  
"Nope." I answered flatly.  
"Empty?"  
"Just the opposite. It wanted to eat us."  
Kate frowned at that, confused.  
"Eat you?"  
"Turned out, putting a chest in the forest has a chance of something evil making a home inside of it. It ate the first bandit sent to get the chest. Then probably ate another bandit when they returned to grab it in force."  
"… So that's why they didn't try again. I thought they were just looking for more still."  
"Naw, they probably gave up completely. Loot's gone. Swallowed up by the chest monster. Nothing to gain anymore."  
"Did… did anyone… get hurt?"  
"Our dread knight took a pretty nasty hit, he'll be in bed for a good week while he's recovering. Otherwise, we all made it out somehow. I even got a teeth. They look wicked cool. Wanna see?"  
The girls eyes lit up with curiosity, which I fed in moments. My bag opened up and out came the Nightmare's teeth. Large thing really, as big as my hand though not as thick. Harder than stone, very pointy. Not exactly sharp but considering how this teeth rips through metal I don't think it needs to be sharp.

Kate quietly watched the item, moving it around in her hands to see closer detail.  
"Know anything about this sort of monster?" I asked her; she shook her head.  
"No, don't know much about monsters. How big was this thing?"  
"Big enough to eat someone whole. It could throw me across the street here, and it did back when we fought it. Lost consciousness halfway through the fight after the thing tossed me against a tree."  
Kate winced, but stayed quiet. Waiting for the rest.  
"My team took it out, I'd bought them enough time. All in all, I think we got incredibly unlucky to run into it. Enough about that, let's go eat yeah?"  
"I'd like that." Kate answered cheerfully. She didn't smile much, but unlike Mary she wasn't incapable of smiling.

The merchants stalls offered plenty of different choices. Kate didn't like sweet things as much, so we both ate something more fitting. We made a good small talk while she traded her previous day's events.

"So, ready to go into training?" I asked her, getting onto topic.  
Kate nodded, "I've got a plan I've been thinking about. A dream I've always had."  
"What are you cooking in that head of yours?"  
At that Kate beamed at me. "I'm going to become a thief. That's the first step in everything. They have a skill that lets them become invisible, and there's so many times I wished I could do that. Now I'm finally going to."  
"Not a mage or a priest?" There'd been a debate in the back of my head about persuading Kate to be a mage. We had a lot of melee on our team, we needed more ranged damage – and not the physical kind either. Another mage would help a lot more then another thief. I decided to wait first, see what her argument was. I'll try my hand at persuading her differently after I got all the facts.

"I could." Kate said, munching over her meal. "Priest is really nice because everyone always needs a priest. But," She fidgeted in her seat slightly, "…I'd need to rely on a team. I just can't right now. It makes me nervous to think I have to trust my life to other people. I don't like it. I want to be in control. I don't want to rely on anyone."  
"Ah, going for a survival route. Hey, I don't judge."  
"Thieves can do everything I need. With a bit of preparation. You know, Albedo goes out to the ruins by herself anytime she's broke, she kills goblins alone. Doesn't do it a lot 'cause she says it's still really dangerous. But she can do it. That's something only a thief could do. If things go wrong, thiefs can vanish and…"

Kate continued to gush over the setup. With the right gear, a clever thief could munchkin her way into doing the same job every class does – slightly differently but effectively the same. I could tell she had her mind set on becoming one, not all for completely logical reasons – although there were a lot of good points. She grew up wishing for a lot of things, and one of those wishes were to be a thief, at least that's what I suspected. Then the conversation took a swing into much deeper territory. "So, up for joining my team after the week's done?" I asked her, taking another bite out of my meal. She went quiet then, meeting my eyes with a determination I hadn't seen in anyone but Mary.

"I can't."

That got a raised eyebrow from me. Did not see this one coming. The budding thief continued. "Silas onii-san. You're a kind person. Genuinely kind person. And people like you die, that's why there isn't a lot of kindness in this world. I want to be strong so I can change that. Tell me," The girl continued after a pause, swallowing another bite of her meal. "What do you want to do in a year? Five years? Ten?"  
"Oi, oi, didn't think I'd hear this sort of talk out of a little girl. How old are you anyhow?"  
"How old are **you**?" She shot back.  
"Probably in my twenties." I answered, taking the bait and looking back. I was growing a bit of stubble after all. Okay, it's peach fuzz – but that's the precursor to a beard! Get off my lawn.  
"Then I'm thirty seven years old." The girl huffed, crossing her hands.  
"Bullshit. Talk, or else I'm stealing some of your toast."  
"Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?"  
I sighed dramatically, "All right fine, I'll wiggle that answer out of you someday. Count on it."  
"Anyhow, you dodged the question!" Kate yelped, back on track.

True. I totally did. Because my answer is lame.  
"I don't really have plans. Never thought too much on it. I guess my end game is the same as everyone else's, buy a nice house, retire. Marry maybe. Grow old and fat. I'm just trying to live happy enough."  
"That's why I can't follow you." Kate answered with melancholy. "I need to be more. I need to be strong. Otherwise I can't change this world."

Change the world? Damn this girl had her eyes set on a massive goal.  
"Tall order. I'm not going to talk you out of it, but genuinely curious how you plan to do that."  
"I'll wait a few weeks until the next group of Crimson Moon come. I'll take charge and make my own team out of them, then we'll become the strongest group out there!"  
I nodded, following. Kate was smart, but she was also a little kid too. She continued, a twinkle in her eyes. I could _tell_ she must have been daydreaming about this for months, maybe her whole life. It wasn't just her dream I was hearing here, it was probably the fantasy that kept her warm during cold hungry nights. I knew well enough not to touch haphazardly. Tread softly for it is my dreams spread under, and all that jazz.

"Then, when I'm among the best I'll join House Tyule. From the inside, I'll climb my way up and change the system. I'll protect you and all the other Crimson Moon who come after. I'll make it."  
Now there was real fire in her eyes. She was passionate about this. Did I just run into the main character of this story or something? Hell, even Manato, who I was convinced was the protagonist here, didn't have any far-reaching goals like that. Unless Kate was actually Manato's long lost sister – thus also crown princess in hiding who'll appear to be Manato's rival. Ah, yes that follows the good old storyline. Therefore, I conclude that they're both the protagonists.

The girl looked up to me expectantly then, waiting for my answer. Out went my hand and I ruffled her head affectionately. "Shoot for the stars Kate. Tell me if you need any help setting up, I'll do my best. But try not to die, okay?"  
Kate nodded, "That's why I need to be a thief. You know why a bird isn't afraid of a branch snapping?"  
"Hmm, because it has wings I'm guessing."  
"That's right, it's got its own wings. If the worst happens, it can **do** something about it. I have to be like that bird. I need to be able to survive anything, alone too if it happens."

We went quiet for a moment, munching over toast. I had a feeling of all people, Kate actually could do this. She was clever, real clever. Maybe a little childish at this moment, but I doubt that dream of hers will fade with age – it'll only get sharper and more refined as she grew up. If I stayed my current course, I had a feeling Kate and her group would sprint ahead of us. Because unlike our group, they would have a goal. A real goal. A personal goal that was steeped in her own past experiences. The most powerful driving force I could think of. Not something generic like defeating the deathless king, or becoming a general leading an army against the orcs and whatnot.

I thought some more on what I wanted out of my life. Lex had mentioned here and there to become a great hero of the world. Standing among the best. My group weren't the best, but anyone could be great with time and effort put in. Yii often talked about how my team were gifted enough.  
Ranta would become an incredible dualist. Haru was actually an amazing thief with his line-skill ability. Yume, Shihoru, Mogzo, they all had great potential. At least, he said the archives pointed it out. Me, I don't think I'll ever be that strong. They hadn't ever said a thing about where the archives mentioned me, so my theory is I likely died early on and history forgot me. I don't think I'll ever be that genius of a hero, but I could get close enough if I really tried. The rest of the voices hadn't put much thought on our endgame. Arbit had once told me to make better friends with the merchants, because with their knowledge of cooking and other archives, we could start a very successful chain – once we managed to make ourselves important and wealthy enough to challenge the guilds. Force them to accept us.

As for me, the only somewhat personal goal I could think of was Mary... And not in _that_ way. She had unfinished business in the mines and I don't think she'll be able to move on until that's dealt with. I wanted to see her smile one day, not just in my dreams. So long as Deathpatch was still walking around I don't think she'll get her closure out of this story. And I'm pretty sure she hasn't even thought about taking a partner up so long as her past is filling her heart. There's just no room.  
There were plenty of ways to end happy enough when it came to general life. But Kate was right – I needed a goal to move forward to. I couldn't keep walking aimlessly like I was right now. Living day to day as she said. I put those thoughts on an afterburner, I'd raise them up to the voices later.

"What are you going to do during the few weeks in between the rookies showing up?"  
Kate shrugged at that, "I'll do what I've always done. Survive, and with my thief skills I'll practice."  
"You know, you could join up with my group for the week before the new recruits show up. Get some field experience with a veteran team."

That got her good. I could tell she was sorely tempted with that.  
"I'll… think about it." She answered slowly, I could tell there was something that had a reservation on her.  
"Where do you usually stay?" I asked to defuse the situation and also out of curiosity.  
"I've got a straw mat I keep on a roof of a building, it's hard to climb up on but I don't always sleep there. If it's too cold, I stow away in some house or empty storage."  
"Hmm, our inn has an extra bunk in the girl's room that's not being used. Want to stay with us for a few weeks while you wait for the next group to come?"  
"You'll have me?"  
"Sure, just keep the place clean and help cook things for us in exchange. I'm sure the girls would let you join in. Although, Manato also sleep there too. You still have to meet and talk to him soon, you can't keep avoiding this."

Kate frowned. She had been very nervous on meeting the priest and for good reason. The girl had deliberately tried to hurt him with her words the last time they met.  
"He's a forgiving person, Manato. Talk to him, truthfully. It'll be fine."  
"B-but what if… what if he doesn't like me? What if he says I shouldn't meet you anymore?"  
"You can dislike someone but also respect them and make a level-headed choice. That's what being an adult is about. In the streets, maybe being liked or disliked was enough. In the crimson moon there's plenty of parties that hate each other but are willing to trust their lives to one another." Look at me, being all responsible and shit. Just because I'm older doesn't mean jack squat about having my head on my shoulders. But, somehow being with Kate made me try to be more… accountable.  
"That' not what happened to Albedo, she got kicked out of her group because they didn't like her!"  
"Oh? The stealing she did?"

Kate grimaced, shoving some more toast in her mouth and taking a long sip of milk to wash it down. "It wasn't just stealing - She's _always_ stealing stuff. It doesn't even have to be worth anything, she'll steal junk just to steal it and then throw it away. She told me once she can't help it."  
"I think the word for that is Kleptomaniac."  
"leptomank?"  
"Klept-to-mani-ac."  
"Lept-to-mani-ak."  
"Close enough. Continue, I'm kinda curious to see who you have to hang around."  
"She's really strong. But she can also be really mean. She was a crimson moon member too, but she stole too many things from her group. One of the party members caught her stealing and she killed him to keep it quiet. She said she was drunk, and he was drunk too, and it was an accident when they got angry at each other. She tried to say she was being attacked by him or something but the group didn't buy it and kicked her off the team."  
"Ouch. Two teammates gone in a single day."  
"Mhm. The group disbanded I think. But all the rest of the Crimson Moon heard about her and she couldn't join any new groups. She ended up in the streets like me."

I thought about it for only a moment before answering, "She stole things probably a lot from her group. They probably didn't like her for a long time and then she did something that crossed the line. We won't shun you even if Manato doesn't like you ok? One mistake is just that – a mistake. Or even if by some chance they do, I'm not just going to give up being your friend."  
"But if they find out you keep visiting someone they don't like, then they might not like you anymore too! It's-"  
"It's not going to happen. You trust me right? Trust me now, my group's not like that. I'm the second in command of those buggers remember? So go meet Manato, and talk to him. Get that over with and off your chest. I'll tell him ahead of time you're coming by, okay?"  
Kate had a slightly frightened look on her face, but I could tell I'd convinced her enough.  
"… thank you for the stay. I-I'll try."  
"I think it'll do you good to be around normal people for a change. You want to lead a crimson moon group in the future yea? Then you should be around Crimson moon people for now."

I wrapped up my breakfast, then we both set off to visit the merchants.


	22. Chapter 22

**AN:  
Why were you so late with this you terrible shitty author?! **  
**Well, two words in my defense: Finals. Week.  
** No words in defense of being a terrible shitty author though, I totally am - see the AN note at the end of this chapter.

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

The most cutthroat section in all of Altana, a den of vipers ready to loot your wallet all while sporting a perfectly regal smile along with a cheery "Come again!" - The Merchants district. If one were not careful, you'd walk out with your capas replaced for junk trinkets – and not realize you'd been jipped until sitting back home with the horrible realization: Why the fuck did I buy all this junk in the first place?

Fortunately, I happen to have a skill honed over time and with great effort: Being a complete greedy scumbag when it suited me. Or so I keep telling myself. I have, after all, splurged here and there.

The voices were pretty damn convinced I'd get conned out of my hard earned silver regardless of my protests. Lex walked alongside, passing through people like a ghost, without even a glance _. "Remember to take a better haggler with you on your shopping trip."_ He explained in detail. _"_ _Unfortunately, Ranta is a great one but he is down, so make do. Mary probably has some experience in it, the rest of the party is all too soft."_

"Are you insinuating I'm a terrible haggler?" I hissed under my breath, "Because you're goddamn right I'm terrible at it." Searching through my memories I tried to pinpoint anyone else besides Ranta who could assist. Mary was indeed, the other options I could think of.

The Alpaca hoofed his way through a cart, ghosting through in a way that would make anyone else jump and scream. My life is average.  
 _"_ _Please stop it with the small insults about the other party members, especially about them being soft."_ Khiruki detailed, _"_ _This isn't the only example, just the latest. Pretty much everyone else came into the world just two weeks or so ago with no memories. Their only real issue is a lack of experience."_  
Well. That was true, but that didn't change the fact we were getting our money ripped out of us. The merchants certainly didn't have mercy on our newbie understanding of value. If anything those vultures made a pretty penny over all of us. We're totally hopeless.

I've never heard an alpaca snort, but I suppose my mind managed a good enough picture.  
 _"_ _They survived two major death fights with nobody dying; they aren't hopeless. Just, let them grow first."  
_  
Because it was happy fun time now, the rest of the gang was showing up left and right now, which made the alleyway rather crowded. Fortunately some of the voices hadn't picked any shapes to show up as thus were just voices in the back of my head. One such was the General. _"_ _Agreed!"_ He proclaimed grandly, _"_ _They are all human, thus they are all part of Humanity Invictus. To degrade them so, even Ranta is arrogant and unwelcome. Temper your words Lex, we gain nothing by having Silas doubt his comrades in arms in such a way."_  
Which Khiruki only continued, fueled onwards. " _Sniping at them from inside SB's mind is wholly unproductive at everything except poisoning SB's against his own party. He doesn't need to walk around with some stupid preconception in the back of his mind that his party mates are useless detriments."_

The phsudo-angel was flying above, trying to add a word in the argument. _"_ _I believe Lex didn't mean his comment to be harmful…"_  
To which I heard a loud scoff from General. _"_ _A being who has portrayed themselves using a figure who has historically lead to the deaths of multiple universes full of people just to kill one man is not meaning to be fully harmful? Haha, that's a good one Lady Chaos."_

She just pouted, _"_ _I'm glad you got a laugh, yes quite funny in a strange way when I think about it,"_ She sighed dramatically, _"_ _Hopefully this is a version of himself who is hopefully centuries older and wiser who got over his yandere crush for his superhero sweetheart."_

What the heck was going on here in my head? Was Lex a confirmed criminal in their world or something? Talking about him, he didn't seem happy with the flak he was getting.

 _"_ _They are what they are."_ He stated flatly. _"_ _Ranta is always the one who pushes, the first one to strive forwards, to defeat complacency. His forceful personality is better for a haggler than the others for the simple fact he won't back down without a fight, he won't bend, that's what one needs for this kind of negotiation. To be unbending. Thus, hard. Simple as that."_

Talking about haggling, I figured I might as well ask the person who's lived in theses streets the longest then.  
"Hey Kate," I asked. She turned to glance at me with a questioning look. "Do you know how to haggle?"  
"With what money to haggle?" She answered a little bitterly, but then shook her head quickly. "Forget I said that, sorry. I'll probably be better at getting a good deal then you if that's what your asking."  
"How can you tell?" I answered. Didn't feel insulted or anything, just curious to why it seemed like such a forgone conclusion in her head. She just said she had less practice at it then I did.

I could hear in the background all the voices yelling at one another. Chaos was giving long winded speeches alongside Lex who also had some deep philosophy on the nature of strength and whatnot. Ya'll are one dramatic bunch, all over who's a good haggler or not.

Kate for her part shrugged her shoulders. "You've got that crimson moon accent still."  
"Wait, I've got an accent?"  
Kate thought for a moment, "No, it's more like you lack an accent if that makes sense?"  
"I… not really?"  
"Yatro and Albedo showed me it when I first joined them. Crimson Moon sort of don't have any accent at all. We all speak like we're… I don't really know. Colorless? People around here know crimson moon don't have a lot of common sense yet, so as soon as you talk they know they can inflate prices or play tricks."  
"That… wow that sucks."  
"Yeah, well no one else really likes crimson moon around here except for shopkeepers who get money from you directly."  
"What? We clean up the forests for them, how could they not like us?"

The little girl shrugged. "We're foreigners to everyone else. We're different, talk different, act different, don't have family or anyone. That's enough for a lot of people. I don't understand either, but that's just how things are."  
"Starting to see why you're dead set on changing things."

The little girl shrugged, "You never stopped to wonder why they didn't give us a choice on being a crimson moon soldier? Let me talk to the merchants for you Silas." She then said proudly. "I'll say I'm part of a family around here that hired you and Mogzo as our bodyguards. Crimson Moon often get recruited for that job, they're cheap guards. I got pretty good at making an accent up so let me do the talking. Trust me!"  
"Right, but you realize you're not wearing anything that says _rich enough to buy guards_ right?"  
Kate frowned all of a sudden, clearly realizing her mistake. Then the girl took a look at her worn one-piece dress with a sudden self-realization.

I ruffled her head lightly then, "Let's get you something nice to wear yea? You can pay me back with haggling a discount. Works?"  
The girl nodded slowly, putting two and two together. "Is.. is that fine?"  
"My money, I get to spend it however I want. No argument. It's your plan right? Go pick something to fit the part." Besides, the voices hadn't yet jumped over me about this so I suppose it's fine. They're too busy attacking each other about armor, possible optimal build paths, and the like. It was all muted, but the general gist could be felt. The argument in the background simmering down slowly though. Lex completed his defense audibly, _"_ _It is no insult to be soft, nor to be hard, as long as one strives to temper themselves. Maybe I'm not the one insulting them here."  
_ To which Revya just groaned, _"_ _Would you all quit it! SB already sees Ranta as a friend and party member, there is no need to start this conversation up again! S.B. you have no clue how many decades worth of arguments we have to plot for a plan of action, even just a day of activity."_

Kinda hear it in the background but I've long since learned to just zone in when something important was happening and mentally check out otherwise. A feeling crept up that a few of the other voices did the exact same thing too. Lord Bleeding Heart, defender of the downtrodden but curiously mercantile little girls stepped in, rolling his eyes. _"_ _Don't Drama Queen, it hasn't even been a day..."_ And the arguments started all over again. Quite the dysfunctional family living in my head here.

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

The shopping trip itself for clothing didn't take much time. True to her word, Kate didn't argue at all with my decision, instead chose to make it as short a side trip as possible. She ended up buying herself a nice pair of leather shoes, and a much more formal looking lightly colored dress. I let her do the talking, to which I saw the immediate benefit of having the accent down. It did fit the part she was going for, but I could also tell she had an extra spring in her step and a grin she was fighting hard to keep in check. Now, none of the guards shot her any look while she walked out in the streets.

Kate explained to me the gist of the accent on our trip, which I actually _understood_ pretty quickly. Either it was easy, or I was smart. I'll go with the latter of course, because my ego demands it. Getting a fake accent would take a week of practice, but all things take practice in the end. Maybe if I'd been slower on the uptake I'd need more lessons from Kate personally. Fortunately, I seemed to have gotten lucky. I could already spot the differences between the people on the streets and myself. If I spent enough time hanging around the merchants, I'd probably pick the rest of it up.

The first test of the matter was the armor smith merchant. I discussed with Kate on my goal here: Buy better items, do some armor fitting with the plates I looted, and so forth. While I was getting her up to speed, Oni-sama showed up with advice then. _"_ _Regarding your armor options, I think it's better to save up for now, for when a sale or something of the sort comes."  
_  
Somehow, I got a feeling if you wanted a sale, you'd have to haggle for it yourself. There wasn't any cardboard signs saying buy one get one free. I think Oni agreed, since the other voices basically commanded me then and there to buy myself non-trash gear. Which made a lot of sense to me. Armor was definitely not an impulse buy took it in stride, _"_ _Try to look for a new weapon as well. Pick up something that feels natural for you. I for one suggest a one-handed axe with a piked tip. Though it deals heavy hits, both stabbing and slashing, it's shorter than your spear so keep your preferred fighting style in mind."_  
I'm taking advice from someone who called himself _Greatly HonoredYōkai_ , mind you. But hey, it sounded sound.

Kate took it like a champion, walking into the shop like she owned the place.  
"Hi, my mom hired crimson moon bodyguards for our house. We'd like to buy some new armor for him, and do some fitting for some old armor we have with another." She said cheerfully, in the accent I could now recognize as the common folk. It's kind of amazing now that I think about it. You can never really tell you had an accent until someone pointed it out to you.

The merchant nodded, "Of course little lady, we'll talk price after. Well young man, go on and find something that you like." To which I did exactly that. Thus far, the shield and armor were built to work on each other, so I decided to get some more in that vein. Mobility was a big thing in my fighting style, unlike Mogzo, so I got the leg plates. He'd take the arm plates along with the helmet. Defense was pretty well handled by my shield armor, but I still remembered that skeleton digging his hand right past my guard. Mail offered the perfect defense to that, so I ordered the chain to wear on my chest, and have it woven into the leather. My other shoulder which had been barren before got the same treatment, a few pads of leather and chainmail stitched together. After that, a spear and a shortsword were bought, and everything cost a grand total of 57 silver. Kate's discount was huge, although the armor smith made sure to negotiate price outside my range of hearing. Another 35 silver would be spent by Mogzo when he'd show up here with the rest of the plates and have them attached to his current armor.

One of the questions among the voices I remembered, was about enchantments. Which turned out to be rather basic. Magic tended to have ripples that escaped, put too many enchantments side by side and those ripples will cause the enchantments to fail. Thus, adventurers tended to have one enchantment per body part. Chest, forearms, boots, weapons and head. Five enchantments usually kept working without problem. Fitting six got dangerous and doing seven was asking for trouble to happen – or you're smart and know how much each enchantment radiates for optimal slotting. A very vague art few people would take chances on, especially in the messy heat of battle. Fitting that many enchantments also changed how you'd fight too. Mages didn't carry many enchantments due to their use of magic. They might fizzle out their own gear doing just regular spells – or even worse: Their gear might fizzle out _their_ spells if it was too overwhelming. But the same could happen for warriors: If you had an enchantment on your ring and chest for example, it'd be a very bad idea to slap your chest with that ring. You might fizzle both of them out if they were fragile enough. That restricted your motions a lot to avoid damaging the gear. Basic and simple glyphs tended to radiate a lot less magical discharge, and be capable of handling a lot of rogue energy before breaking so for most of us grunts out on the field, one or two basic and reliable enchantments were what the doctor ordered.

The most well-used enchantment was a Glyph of Atlas. A simple rune that converted personal energy over time– it let you swing around heavy things as if they weighed nothing to you. That's how Mogzo was able to fight with such a ridiculously huge sword. The drawback was that energy to lift such a huge weapon had to come from somewhere. In this case, it came from Mogzo himself – over time. While walking, the sword would weigh much more than it should, storing that energy he spent carrying it. When he was ready to use the glyph, it would release that energy, suddenly making it lighter for _only_ Mogzo as it had siphoned only his personal energy. It wasn't very efficient either, an hour of hiking would net only a few minutes of fighting - but that's what you get.

The atlas glyph was well used in many things, including armor and carriages. Those floating carriages I'd heard of for example use a much more complicated version of the glyph. The second popular glyph was ghost sight. Which when placed, would allow anyone to see through the material it was placed on from one direction.  
Thus, faceless helmets without any slits other than to breathe through were a thing with this glyph. Both glyphs were so well used that they didn't have much of a cost, and they were sturdy as well which helped against magical fizzle. It would take at least five minutes of continuous contact with another source of magic for it to fail.

Any enchantment was just a series of logical lines and spells woven into them, so in theory anything a line could be drawn on, it could be enchanted, soldiers might even have them tattooed on their skin. But that took great fore-thought. Especially an enchantment with a passive effect - imagine having it working at all hours of the day, out of combat or in combat. Usually tattoos of that category for military application at least were more complex, with on-off triggers, variable energy uses, and so forth. Which made them more prone to failure if you messed up, leaving a useless tattoo for life.

Overloading the enemy enchantments was a viable tactic, and especially used by mages but that required an opponent like Orcs who were smart enough to use them. Goblins, kobalds on the higher tiers and the like in the forest tended to be too poor to have me worried about that.

On the subject of enchantments - That was when I hit my first obstacle. _I want it_. No, not the combat enchantments, we're talking something much _much_ more important: It's hard to keep drool in your mouth when you're watching a live example of an enchantment that turns even the most uncomfortable straw 'pillow' into a silky smooth heavenly experience. _I want it_ _ **bad**_. See, I've been thinking about this enchantment for some time now, tossing and turning in my ridiculously uncomfortable straw bed. And now, well, let's just say my wallet can take the cut. It took most of Kate's upper body strength to pry me off the vendor stall like a barnacle riveted on a rock. Make no mistake – this is only a temporary setback. I _will_ have that enchantment, even if I have to strangle every voice in my head to get it. This was non-negotiable! We're coming right back here if I had another few silvers left in my wallet after our shopping trip. We're fat cats right? Fat cats should do what fat cats do: buy luxury. And caviar - but that's a work in progress. I'll settle for never having to itch away straw.

Talking about them, Mochi was center stage now. The discussion was, sadly, not about my new favorite enchantment but rather an idea he had in the back of his head for some time now. _"_ _Heya SB! One thing I think you should do would be discuss what to do with the Orb now that it has been returned to you. I believed that it was mentioned that the mimic's teeth and orb are valuable. If you're considering my idea of turning the Mimic's teeth into group weapons, I have a little addition to that for you to consider. Namely that you should see if you can get 1 long tooth and 1 shorter tooth to be made into a halberd/spear like this."_

He showed me an image of what looked like a spear and sickle were put in a room and left alone for a night. _Sure._ I thought back, being led around by Kate. _I've got to buy a new spear anyhow, might as well see if I can add it onto the spear. Would be pretty badass._

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

Turns out, I totally can't. Right after the smith shop extravaganza, we entered the back to meet the actual blacksmith. Same guy I went to ever time I needed my shit fixed.  
"Can't cut it kiddo." The blacksmith grunted, "Teeth are unlike anything I've seen. Quick tests says it'll break my tools if I tried to shape them into anything. Would probably grind through my wheel instead. What beast did you get these from?"  
"We ran into something long dead in the forest. Looted its dead corps but the teeth were the only thing we could get. No idea what it was." I lied through my teeth easily. "Well, can you make some knives out of it?"  
"And how'd you reckon I can do that if I can't attach a handle to it? Rope and string? Your new knife will just get torn in half at the worst time. Look at the base of these teeth. The handle would have to be huge just to wrap around. These teeth are stronger then metal – but _you_ aren't. Maybe another smith would take a chance with this, but I'm not going to waste any time trying to do the impossible."

Ahh. Well. Mochi had informed me if I couldn't make anything out of them, sell the damn things off for a good price.  
"Willing to buy them off me?" I asked, and got promptly rejected.  
"Are you daft kid? I got no use for these."  
"They're stronger then metal! What smith wouldn't want to experiment with that!" Seriously. What the hell. For an RPG this is totally out of the line. Smiths are supposed to craft things, or at least buy loot off you. That's just a staple! Give me back my dreams and hopes! The man sighed deeply, then looked me dead in the eye. "Not me, don't have the passion for that nonsense. I do my job, I do it well, and that's it. Making new weapons, doing out of the head thinkin' - that's not me lad. I don't like smithin all too much, it's just family tradition. Now hey! Don't give me that stink eye. I like knowing I keep people safe out there, and that makes me get out of bed in the mornin' but I'm no master smith working on the latest bleedin' edge weapons. Go find the guild and sell it to them or the mages. Maybe they'll be interested in teeth that can't be broken down, hell maybe the mages know some enchantment to affix items together something real solid like. Not too sure, I don't forge any enchantments on weapons while making them by principle. A smith that got to use magic to make his trade is a piss poor smith. I can give ya a note saying it's indeed stronger than my metal tools though, perhaps that'll help ye out."  
"I'll settle for that. Fine." I answered back curtly. I hadn't expected much out of these teeth, but any profit is better than no profit.

The smith grinned, "Go talk to Mort, he's the one in charge of selling my stock. Tell him I sent ya, and show him the teeth. He might have a better idea what to do with it then me. Lad's got a head for making money. Now if you don't got anything you need fixed, get on with it."

Mort, the man I'd just gotten a set of armor from, did want to buy it off me for the price of 2 silver a teeth. Which was a terrible sell I think. One of the voices agreed right there with me, _"Now, the teeth is much more valuable than it actually looks if what the man is saying is true."_

Yep. Somehow I got the feeling he'd get a much better price out of it. _"Being unable to be used by simple blacksmiths show that it could possibly be an important magical reagent or an ingredient for making magical swords."  
_  
Which prompted me to ask and see if I could find out more on those teeth's uses. Of course, the slimy git didn't tell me what he was going to do with the teeth, or who he was going to sell it to.  
That didn't stop him from honoring the deal with my blacksmith. A note was written and signed, assuring the future vendor the teeth were indeed stronger then metal. I made a quick decision on selling the few teeth I had or keeping them for later.

The resident Yokai showed up with advice, alongside the rest of the gang. _"The teeth, with its durability, should be more valuable than the mere change they are offering. Keep it for now."_  
That seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. Spectrum agreed, _"Getting ripped off. Take it to the mages when you find time, they may be able to recognize its origin more properly, though that's a double-edged sword for your anonymity."_  
"Sorry Mort," I cheekily said, "I think I'll hold onto these for the moment."  
In return, he narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'll up it to three silver, but no more then that."  
"They're not for sale anymore. I decided I'll find a use for them later."

The merchant shrugged, clearly seeing his chance had sailed away now. But at least, he was profession enough to not let this incident sour any relationship with me.  
"As you wish sir. Here's the signed document proving it's authenticity. I won't get a profit but that would have been a bonus anyhow, I do hope you find a buyer you're happy with."

Walking out, Arbit showed up with some ideas on the teeth himself. _"Might be useful to make it into a dagger for Haru. When you find someone, maybe a Dwarf to smith it? Imagine him use Backstab on a armored foe, or use to break bars or chains..."_ He continued on, excited on the prospects. Haru was our resident damage dealer, he could definitely use a dagger that won't break against metal. I think the benefits wouldn't be so much that it'd cut through metal - more like it wouldn't break on a parry, or require much maintenance. Quality of life improvements really. The voice ended by telling me to go seek out the trinket vendor couple I'd met on my first stay here, they did cut gems after all. Diamonds were harder then metal, but they were cut somehow right?

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

Promising to meet up with her before she left for the week at the thieves guild, I left Kate near her home turf to prepare her gear before making my way back home to the inn. There, I met up with the Ranta care-taker squadron. They'd found a way to amuse themselves, and it didn't involve drawing things on someone's face.

"Do you have a… knight?" Manato asked the mage to his right. She shook her head quickly.  
The priest sighed, while Mogzo picked a card out of a rapidly shrinking deck.  
"I'll… umm play a lord." The big man pointed to Manato, and the two swapped hands – or rather, one card. Hands in this game were just a single card. The priest seemed pretty upset at the warrior's move, judging from the frown.

"What's this game?" I asked quickly, sitting down next to the group. It was odd to see Shihoru alone without Yume around, but there we have it. The mage **can** be separated from the hunter. I've seen it all now.

"Locals call it cards. It's a simple game really, Yume brought it back before she left." Manato grinned. He was lying, it was pretty complicated to learn as every card meant something. But once learned the whole game rather moved quickly. There was a bit of luck involved, some math and a nice helping of bluff.

While we played cards, discussion was abound. I swapped what I'd gotten back in the merchant's road and Mogzo's eyes shown when I told him the deal waiting for him over at the armor shop.  
"Kate really sounds different from when we last met her," Manato stated curiously. "Also, playing a knight. Show me what you've got Silas."  
I didn't bother doing the latter, folding my card on the ground without pretention. "Got a soldier, you'll obviously win. Dick."  
"Right you are." He grinned evilly, grabbing my capa off the table and putting it on his side. Damn him.

"And she's actually a little scared of meeting you again."  
"Oh?"  
"She really regrets what she said to you that time you met."  
"What did this girl say?" Mogzo interjected, curious at the happening.  
I took a glance at the boss, but he shrugged and answered for me. "She called me a hypocrite and she was right. It was a good lesson and I needed to hear it."  
"Oh wow, look at you. So responsible." I snarked.  
The man in question elbowed me on the side roughly, "And look at you, out of the game again. I don't mind that lip so long as you keep feeding me capas."  
Ahh. He had a point here. I was losing every ante so far, and most of it going to his pocket.  
"Talking about meeting her, we've got an extra bed right?"  
At that Manato raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to guess you want her to move in with us?"  
"Ummm… didn't this girl… try to steal from you?" Shihoru squeaked from her side.  
"That was in the past. She's been nothing but helpful now that I've taken her under my wing. Besides, when have I ever been wrong?

Before anyone else could open their mouths, I quickly shot out a correction: "Don't answer that, it was rhetorical."  
"Is she going to join us?" Mogzo asked instead. I could tell he wouldn't have any reservations, after all he'd also joined in our team on the same intention. Technically, groups didn't take on two warriors after all.

"Nope." I replied just as fast, "She's going to forge her own separate group from the next newcomers, lead them with experience as a thief. Anyhow, the extra bed is in the girl's room – and Manato's come to think of it. You sly dog you."  
The mage just went slightly red, but mostly kept it together. Manato just laughed, "It's not as exciting as you think Silas. But at least there's no snoring."  
"Well, aren't you lucky. Anyhow, I'll introduce Kate to you and the girls. You all decide then if you want to let her stay here for a few weeks while she waits for the next group to come by. She's agreed to help out around in exchange, food, chores, the like. If she steals anything, I'll pay double for it."  
"She really had a change of heart, if you're willing to put your silver on the line. Still, we'll ask the rest of the team after they've met her." The priest answered carful, glancing at Shihoru. The mage just nodded back soberly.  
"Like it should be." I answered cheerfully. Kate would win them over, I'm sure of that. That was on her, I'm just here to set up the chance.

"Onto other business though. We're having lunch here right? Minus Haru who's out doing his thief training." I asked, which got a few nods around the table.  
"I need to get my armor refitted, I'm sorry." Mogzo explained, "I'll probably miss lunch."  
"That's fine, I'm thinking of going out and bringing back food. That fine with you all?"  
The group nodded quickly at that, clearly a good idea here. "I think it's a good chance to get to know Mary some more, would you all mind if I brought her back here to eat with us?"  
No disagreements here, which worked out just fine for my plan here.

The voices had introduced the idea to me, go for a double date they said. It'll be fun, they said. Yume was gone visiting the denmother, Haru was out training, Mogzo was too excited about getting his armor put on, and Ranta was out cold. Perfect time to see if I can push Manato and Shihoru together, and in the meanwhile… figure it out with Mary. Now getting her to eat with us is going to take some struggling here. Last I remember she had her hair standing up hissing with claws, last time we asked her to come eat with us. I might be embellishing details. Just a tad bit. And it turns out I was wrong on that.

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

"Silas." She stated calmly, watching me like a hawk from her door. "Do you need something?"  
Clothing wise, I hadn't seen Mary in anything other than her priest clothing… and an apron. My head shook the thought quickly, while I could feel Yii speculating behind me.  
 _"_ _SB. Remember the Mary that you see in front of you... she's the real Mary, not the girl you saw in your dream!"_  
Which only made me see the _wrong_ thing of course. Don't think of pink elephants and all that.

"Take a guess. Three chances." I answered instead, forcing myself back in the present and out of my dreams. I could just ask her flat out to come eat dinner with us, but that didn't sound like a lot of fun.  
"Who's wounded?" Mary grimaced, quickly grabbing her belt and pouch near the entrance.  
"No, no! Nothing like that." I countered quickly, putting a hand on hers and pushing her bag down back through it. "Take another shot."  
Mary looked confused for a moment, then her eyes narrowed. "This had better not be another one of your games."  
"Another strike, one more guess left." I tutted, flicking my finger.  
She sighed deeply, then thought for a moment. "A team meeting?"  
"Got it. General discussion over lunch. Come eat with us."

Mary went quiet then, clearly torn between a few conflicting emotions. I didn't give her the time to think it through. "Haru's already at the thieves guild learning a new skill, Yume's out with the denmother, and Mogzo's getting his armor fixed. It's just us four. We're deciding what skills we could use, and also how we'll handle Ranta. We could use your advice for this." My hand outstretched in an open invitation. Almost out of reflex, her own hand came out to meet mine, then hesitated for a moment.  
"I…" She sighed then, giving in. "Fine. I'll come." I felt her hand grasp my own and promptly pulled her out of the doorway, onto the Terrance.

"Also, I told the gang I was bringing back food. No idea what food's good around here so I'm mostly here to drag you into solving my nerve wracking indecisions for me. Save me Mary, you're my only hope." I shot her my best grin.  
"I don't have all the solutions you know!" Mary answered back, clearly shocked at my unexpected addition.  
"Better start thinking fast," I snickered, "I'm absolutely going to blame our lack of edible gifts on you if we come back empty handed."  
"You're a terrible liar, Silas." She told me off with that expression that just reeked disbelief, and a hint of amusement perhaps.  
"Does this face look like I'm joking?" I replied. To which, she answered by lightly tapping the spine of her book dismissively on my forehead.  
"The worst." She huffed, already a direction set and stalking past my guard. "I'm impressed you've gotten this far without getting robbed or lost, clearly leaving you alone for a day was a mistake."  
 _Well, funny story on that…_ "No time like the present to fix that little mistake eh?" I answered back instead, rubbing my head dramatically where the flat of the book had struck.  
Another huff, "If you insist. And don't ask about healing." Mary curtly answered, already trotting out into the plaza.

Getting Mary to come eat with us: Success.  
Her dress looked great I have to say, watching her move to a local favorite of hers. To which I felt Revya show up behind with a disapproving glance. _"_ _Stop looking at her legs for so long."_

Spectrum was with Revya on that front. _"Yes SB, stop looking at Mary's legs for so long."_  
Well gee, make up your mind here! First you throw her at me with an apron on, then you smack my hands when I reach for the cookie jar?  
 _"Her hair is wondrous as well."_ Spectrum continued right through my completely well-founded argument and – _wait_ _just a second here._ Goddamnit, now they're poking fun at me. That's _my_ job here! _"And isn't the small quirk in her lips when she really wants to laugh but needs to stay disapproving adorable?"_

Nail on the head. Mary is Mary, my antics are getting past that serious guard of hers. All according to plan. Which at the moment actually worked out in my favor too – I really had no idea what to bring back food-wise that was at least somewhat original. I'd been wolfing down anything cheap I could find on the streets thus far – or just relied on Mogzo knowing what to do. The big man made some mean food let me tell you.  
So there actually was some amount of method in this madness. Unlike the other guys who were obsessed with that noodle shop, I still haven't found my culinary addiction yet. Maybe Mary had, and would be sharing it. Turns out, she didn't have a food stall she was happy with – rather, she actually enjoyed cooking just as much as Mogzo although her style of food was night and day different.

Lex was by Spectrum's camp here, approving her comment. _"See SB, this is Wisdom."_ He proclaimed. _"Now all you need to do is kill a 20 ft tall steroid-poster boy murder machine that is thinly disguised as a kobold."_  
You're talking about Deathspot right? That giant rookie killing machine that hasn't been killed yet despite the bounty being several years old? Not to mention the same thing that wiped Mary's last party? _That_ Deathspot right? This seems the definition of lose-lose.  
 _"30 Gold and Mary's heart? Win-win."_ Lex countered instead. I internally sighed, and waved it off. We'll cross this bridge when we get to it, but I foresee a lot of death.

The trip down the market took only a few moments, Mary knew her way around impeccably. I was well used to matching her gait, keeping her at my right.  
"Please hold this." She ordered, giving me an empty wicker basket she'd brought along. In a few moments, it would be filled with vegetables, spices, potatoes and a few slices of meat from the local butcher. As she explained, "I'll cook something for you and the rest of the team. In exchange you'll buy the goods." There was no argument to be brokered here.  
"Yes ma'am." I answered back easily enough.

On the way home to the inn, I had odd flashes of pain in my mind. Slight, nothing that worried me that much. The dull headache that came with it made me suspect I hadn't taken in enough water. There was a more sinister feeling of losing something in my head that was ever-present with every flash of dull pain, however I put it aside as my usual insane hijinks. Richard had hounded after us that taking care of our bodies was on the same level of importance as maintaining gear. Double so for me since I was clinically insane. Not keeping a healthy diet might just make my symptoms worse. A quick stop by the aqueduct solved that problem.  
"What are you planning on making with all this?" I asked Mary, curious about her plans. We taken the stop while I refilled my flask and took a gulp of the icy water. Winter had a way of chilling everything despite the sunny day. Mary brushed the side of her helm at my probing, looking to the city heart. Knew right there and then I'd opened a can of worms.

"A recipe I use to make for my friends." She answered back distantly. "I avoided cooking for some time now, but... I feel they would want this."  
I was tempted to make a joke and lighten the air a bit, yet nothing came to mind. Rather, I thought it was more appropriate to stay silent. Eventually, once my flask was filled and well secured to my belt, I had to say something.  
"I'm sure they had a lot of fun eating your cooking. I'd be angry if Mogzo ever stopped cooking."  
"He's your cook?" Mary asked, bewildered.  
"Never told you did he? That's Mogzo all right, man's too humble for his own good."  
"He never mentioned it. I assumed Yume or Shihoru made your sandwitches for lunch."  
"Naw, Mogzo must have been a cook before he came here. That's what I suspect. The man's got a gift for it. You should see him at work, never seen him so focused."

It almost happened then. When she met my gaze, the edges of her mouth twitched upwards naturally. She almost forgot herself, taken in by the small talk. But then the somber disregard in her eyes returned immediately along with the weight on her shoulders, and the mask on her face.  
"I'll trade recipes with him when I meet him next then." She curtly ended the conversation, "Lead the way, it'll be afternoon soon."  
Close. I was getting closer. She refused to let herself be happy. But on the positive side, unlock that chain on her neck and the real Mary was still alive in there. Just smothered under darkness and guilt.

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

The inn was exactly as I'd left it, although Manato had returned the capa's I'd lost to him not too subtly. The git had left them right by my chair and cards, as if taunting me to try again. It didn't help that my headache hadn't dropped despite the refreshment. I shot him a cold look, which he replied with just a broad smile.  
"I'm home," I announced, walking through the doorstep. "Mary's here with me, she'll be cooking something for us today."  
"Oh that's wonderful." Shihoru beamed, quickly making her way over to the only other woman in the room. Having Yume be elsewhere must have been making her nervous, especially since she'd been alone with Manato and a sleeping Ranta. Or rather, not.  
"Who's the girl?" I asked quickly, pointing at the white frilly dress and lady filling it at the back. White hair and … bunny ears? Yes, those were definitely bunny ears. This world had bunny people in it. You know what? I'm very okay with this. Animal ears are justice.  
"Who are you pointing to?" Manato asked curiously, taking a glance at the bunny girl. On her part, the girl smiled and waved. The eyes were red so I assume an albino.  
"Her. The one with the bunny ears. What, are you pulling a fast one on me?"  
The girl in question spoke for herself just then, _"Now that I think about it, I haven't introduced myself haven't I? "_  
"Yep, taking a guess you're joining us for lun-" Suddenly I realized something: Her voice wasn't in the air. _It was in my head._ I had just confused a hallucination with real life. Fuck my life.

The bunny girl didn't answer my interrupted thought process giving a quick half bow. _"My that won't do, this one's name is Ylamona, it is a pleasure little one."_  
The headache upped again and that odd feeling of _losing_ something slowly had returned. Putting it aside, had some damage control to take care of here. My head went straight to kid humor, and I didn't question it either. No time to find a more elaborate way out.

"Whoa, whoa whoa." I walked up to the table, picking up a sowing needle. Out came my feather pen and journal next, making a quick note on a page in front of everyone. _Kick me if I'm gloating about winning cards._ See the trick about getting away with things is to do them as if it's natural. No one questions anything if you pull it off right. Meanwhile, Ylamona continued, _"You really are doing great little Sillas, this one is proud. Keep it up, after all not many able to survive such various "events" like you."_  
Yep, you mean things like this? Just like swimming through a minefield, no problem. Watch me dance.  
"You guys hearing that? She just insulted Manato here, no one's going to defend him at all?"  
The priest looked utterly confused, turning his back and glancing again where I'd pointed. Meanwhile, I took my chance ripping off the piece of paper, stabbing it with the sowing needle then brushing up next to Manato. A heavy clasp on his shoulder while I stared straight ahead. My other hand blindly hooked up the ripped paper on his back, threading the needle with as much dexterity as I could possibly manage. Which turned out, was barely enough.

Fortunately, the shoulder pat distracted him from my real intention, while my own fixed glance at the bunny girl made him attentively keep his in that direction. I promptly shrugged once done, heading back to the table. "Oh. No one here, I'm just yanking your chain. Whoopsie~"  
Mary had one eyebrow raised practically to her hairline, along with a slanted pose that screamed: _You're a dork._  
Shihoru just giggled. "Silas, you're such a sore loser."

The two girls had been in full view on what I'd done, which was part of the recovery plan here. The priest had no idea what was going on until a few minutes where he finally reached behind and unhooked my lame message. He chuckled a bit, then swiped capas off the table and into his pocket. Vindictive eh?  
"Guess I asked for it." I shrugged, getting back to work peeling off potatoes.  
"Haha... Yes, you absolutely did."  
"But hey, you fell for it hook line and sinker, I'd say that show was worth the capas." I snickered back. Been a close call that one. All in all, not my finest moment here. Especially when it came to wit, but I was under the gun so you'll all forgive me, thank you very much. I'd shoot a glare at the bunny girl but she was gone from the world already. That's kind of how it works in my head. At the very least I got improv experience for my troubles.

Cooking between the four of us was pretty fast. Shihoru was in charge of a portage to feed Ranta with, along with forcing him to drink something. Getting the dread knight to eat was a whole other mess of trouble – outright impossible to force a sleeping person to eat, or at least we didn't know how. Not even Mary could offer help on that cause. Ultimately, when Ranta woke up, he'll have food to chow down on. That's the best we could do.  
The meal turned out to be steak and potatoes with a side helping of both grilled and fresh vegetables. A simple lunch, but it had a very distinct taste due to the spices and how Mary had mixed it. Something about this dish was nostalgic. And utterly different from how Mogzo would have done it. I wolfed it down quickly before asking for seconds. Manato and the rest took their time with the first meal.

While eating, Manato opened up with the serious topics: "Let's discuss Ranta." He began.  
The others grew quiet at the clinking of the food scraps stopped. We all took a glance at the room he'd be sleeping in right this moment.  
"Mary, you checked up on him with Shihoru earlier, what's your opinion?" The priest probed.  
"He will be fine." She answered curtly returning to her lunch, "Ranta will certainly wake up some time in the evening demanding food. If he doesn't we can have Silas wake him up, I am certain he'll have a way to do that nicely." She shot me that glance of hers.  
"Mary, I can think of a hundred ways to wake Ranta up nicely. Sliding definition of nice of course. Also, 'Demand' is such a light word," I grinned. "I'm sure the grand Ranta will be more dignified than that when asking for food."  
"Diet wise, liver soup is a good choice to prepare for him. I'll leave the recipe here with you before I leave today." Mary continued unobstructed by my interruption. No nonsense allowed here. The other priest nodded, a slight smile still remained.

"We should have at least one person stay by his side for now."  
"Actually, I'd argue we have two people stay at his side." I shot back.  
"Two? The job isn't that hard Silas."  
"Not about it being hard – but boring. Having someone else keep company with is important, plus it's a good time for the group to get to know each other better."  
I could see Mary at my side suppress a groan. She knew exactly what was going to come. This wasn't the first time I've been up to no good here.  
"Respectfully, I would rather watch over him alone if I'm asked to stay." She protested ahead of time. Manato laughed at that, "And if it were with Silas instead? You're more comfortable around him right? The two of you always arrive in the morning together. It shouldn't be a problem if you share a shift with him."  
Wait just a second here – was Manato wing-manning _me_? I had a feeling someone was staring daggers into my back. Turning around my hunch was correct. Mary's gaze bored a hole right in my head. On the surface, all that had changed from her usual passive glare was further knitted eyebrows, giving her a contemplative yet slightly annoyed glance. That's all I'm able to tell, experience told me facial cues on Mary's end were only a fraction of what she'd actually be brooding over. The girl was quickly snapped out of her thoughts by Manato's instance, I saw her flustered for the first time at that moment, even if it did only last a half second.

"Mary?"  
"I-I fail to see why that changes anything."  
"Silas would definitely draw obscene pictures over Ranta's face if left alone, or do some other prank. And he'd strong arm anyone else into being his accomplices. Look at him."  
"I plead the fifth." I replied back when everyone in the room turned to glance at me. Hey, hey, hey! I'm innocent until proven guilty!  
"You're the only one that could keep him in line, Mary." Manato ended with finality.  
Oh. You… sneaky little bastard you. I didn't know the priest had it in him. Or – no wait – he _was_ serious! I admit I was tempted into doing it, sure, but that's no guarantee I'd actually… well yes. I totally would come to think of it. You can't judge me! I'm criminally insane remember?

Mary on her part seemed to have come to the same conclusion. "Despicable. You're quickly becoming a thorn at my side."  
"Hey – in my defense, I had no idea Manato would bring that issue up. I was hoping he'd conveniently forget."  
" **You!"** She snorted back, "Stay quiet, I need to think." That quickly silenced my upcoming rebuttal. The troubled priest took a deep sigh after a moment to collect herself, "…I _suppose_ it can't be helped. I'll take the shift with Silas then."  
"You're not fooling anyone here Mary," The other priest chuckled, his quip quickly took root in his mirror class. The unfortunate side effect of being almost white as snow – any rush of blood by the cheeks is noticeable, no matter how slight.  
"You are absolutely misunderstanding the situation here!" Mary stuttered an impromptu defense, put on the spot. "Silas is a warrior, it's a healer's duty to support the defender. It's only natural I-" The girl barked back briskly, then froze with the realization her defense absolutely didn't help her case. Mary shifted tracks immediately with a cough, "... Besides, Ranta is our patient. I need to keep him protected from certain _childish men_."

"Childish? Lady, I'm an _artisan_. My canvas; his face." I answered back the only way I knew how: Dramatically.  
"You even admit it. Hopeless." She muttered darkly, "Utterly hopeless. Please, just continue already." She gave the closest to a pleading look possible, directly at Manato. Critical hit.  
"Haru and I would take a shift, and we'll have Yume and Shihoru take the last." Manato returned to the topic at hand, having mercy on his co-worker.  
Sure. That could work. But the voice had given me a better alternative…

"Haru needs a break, he's been working the hardest out of all of us. You've seen him, he's up in the middle of the night sometimes trying to hone his skills just to keep up with the group. I say put Yume and Mogzo together, they're good friends. Shihrou, I like you a lot but you really need to get out of Yume's shadow some more. How about you spend some time with Manato instead?"  
"I'm not in her shadow! I think." The mage answered flustered. "But… I'll do it." She glanced at  
"That's not needed Silas," Manato explained, "The point is to keep people comfortable because it's best for Ranta. Yume and Shihoru are a good team together, I don't see any reason to have her step outside her comfort zone for something like this."  
"But you'll have that of me?" Mary shot back. The other priest just grinned back, "We need someone on Silas Duty, and you're the only one that can handle him."  
Mary audibly sighed at that, but said nothing more. I think I've been insulted here, but I'm not exactly sure I should bite the hand that feeds. Damn that priest.

Shihoru, on the other hand, looked like she'd swallowed a bitter pill. Unfortunately the girl lacked the courage to speak up for herself. She just nodded in defeat with the plan instead. I could tell I've been overruled on that, he was the boss after all.  
"You make a point with Haru. I'll have Mogzo and myself take a shift, we'll leave Haru an extra vacation day. He's worked the hardest, I agree. Any other objections?"  
I kept my mouth shut, and everyone else did the same.  
"Good. That's settled then," Manato continued forward. "When Mogzo returns I'll start my shift with him for today. Silas, Mary, are you free tomorrow?"  
""Yes"" Both of us answered at the same time. Our leader smiled at that, "Then you'll have tomorrow. After that, Shihoru – you and Yume should be free that day yes?"

"Unn." Shihoru nodded, giving her (reluctant) approval for that. On the other hand, I was simply flabbergasted - I'd been denied by the very man I was trying to wingman for. Was he just dense? Or… I was sure Shihoru had feelings for the man. She'd always speak up whenever Ranta bothered him, and she didn't stand up even for herself when he teased her. Not to mention the blushing maiden routine was doubled anytime he was around. But was it _unrequited_? If he didn't care much about shy moe-blob bait, our mage was in trouble. What had Shihoru done to get his attention so far? We all took our shots at keeping Ranta in line so her own addition wasn't exactly unique. But he did buy her that hairpiece she wore – was it just a spur of the moment gift? Maybe Manato did that for a more team-focused goal rather than a personal one. Sign of approval, cheer her up? Spectrum whispered, _"Remember SB, be a wingman for Manato because he's kind of dense about this and that sort of karma will pay itself forward~"_

Dense could be one part of it. Actually - what exactly IS his opinion on all this anyhow? I'm overthinking the stuffing out of this, simple answer was always the best: Just ask the damn man himself. For now, it's time to call off the horses. I'd probably end up wrecking something if I screwed up on the big picture. Just as the man in question finished talking, eerily enough there were now five of us sitting on the table. Mary, Manato, Shihoru, myself and one shady looking guy in a striped black and white suit with matching hat. Having learned my lesson earlier, I decided to wait to see if anyone else noticed the intruder first. They didn't. Which didn't bode well for my slowly growing headache.

"Next topic we should discuss is skills." Manato motioned next.  
"Silas, I recommend you learn shield wall." Mary instructed at the mention, serious again. "That or Rally are two skills that helped greatly before."  
The newcomer glanced my direction, _"Well good morning Silas. New Voice."  
I figured. Thanks for confirming it though._ Did I win some beauty pageant or something? How many were freeloading in my head now? Two dozen?  
"Sure. I was planning to learn Shield Wall anyhow." And I was too. An ability that let me manifest my desire to block a hit. Colossal attacks could be outright stopped as if they'd hit an unmovable objects. There were even war stories of giants breaking their bones and weapons swinging at a particularly powerful Shield Wall from a puny human in front. Better yet, it could be used dozens of ways for the more pragmatic fighter. Handful of those are completely out-of-combat uses to boot. The voices had been split between that skill, Focus Charge, and Rally.

 _"Well I might as well put my two cents in."_ The new voice explained easily.  
 _On what?_ I hollered back silently in my own head. The whole situation with Ranta and my team? Seemed to have hit jackpot with that one, since the hallucination nodded.  
 _"Don't worry about it too much. Your team is whole and well. Okay Ranta is bed bound for awhile but still. And even though you don't have a greater goal like Kate there, you're still alive and young. Plenty of time to choose a life goal. So don't fret about it."  
I just want to make it out of all this alive. _Honestly, it's not that bad of a goal right? Okay – that was a lie. I want to make it out alive, and also make sure everyone else does the same. The hat man seemed to agree with that, _"Enjoy and protect what you have now rather than think about the uncertain future."_  
The man was slowly fading now, giving its last messages, _"Anyway my name's Hadiz."_ The moment he finished I felt that headache flare up again, along with a muted click. This was totally tied to them, but I wasn't sure exactly what they were doing here. Hadiz didn't seem to notice at all the problem. _"Hopefully you'll live through this new place. Knowing the sheer stuff you end up fighting in the first week of your life. You're living in interesting times. The Chinese version."_

And he was gone, leaving me with more questions than answers like all those sons of a bitches usually did. What's a Chinese version? Trans-dimensional beings were total bullshit. And there wasn't a single Advil in this world too. Jerks… I'm going to assume Advil's my world's cure magic, because that makes sense. Not sure why I'd have said something else.  
"Haru's out learning Widow's Grap, last he told me. We've been talking over strategy and our current weak point is crowd control." Our boss discussed, taking a glance at me. I suppose it's my turn to take control since I'm the field commander here.  
"He's right. We don't have a lot of crowd control. Since I'll be taking shield wall and taking the role of the main tank, Mogzo and the rest can focus on shoring up our weak points. We lack ranged damage, so I'll have Yume find something to make her arrows more accurate. There's bound to be a skill for that. We'll have enough damage, so Shihrou, would you be up to being a support mage?"  
The girl nodded quickly, "I was… umm thinking about it too. There's a shadow element that helps control enemies. Master explained it once."  
"Great. Go for that one."

Discussion was mostly left vague. I outlined what we needed, where we were strong, where we were weak, and left it to each individual to shore the gap themselves. So long as we all knew what we were looking to commit to the team, no one would overlap. I'm sure there's some optimal build path here if I micro-managed every single skill my team would learn, but I trusted their instinct enough. The next antics from the voices had arrived early too in the middle of that discussion. Right outside this time. A giant metal man, complete with a helmet and glowing red eye filled the window.  
 _"Kolar here,"_ The voice rumbled. I felt the dull click in my head count higher, along with the rippling headache that followed. Felt like I was water at the edge of the cup. Just a few more drops and I'd break the surface tension. That feeling I was about to lose something was just gaining traction on me.

 _"I have a question I would like clarified on Skills. Is it that you can't teach them to others, period, unless you are a guild approved trainer, or that you can't teach them to anyone not in the guild? If it is the latter, you and Mogzo could slowly teach each other during morning practices right? Same with Mary and Manato, or Kate and Haru. If it is the former, well, that's an unfortunate wasted opportunity."_  
With a bit of breathing the headache returned back to its dull background pain, leaving me enough thought to answer back. _It's the former._ Richard spent quite a lot of time and money gaining permission along with trust from the warrior's guild to be a trainer. Besides, what if Mogzo taught me a skill wrong? If all warriors could just teach each other, there'd be some people doing it wrong and screwing up the next generation of warriors with sub-par skills. Richard totally wasn't human as far as I know, but he still had to eat and pay the bills. I might be _exaggerating_ on his race just a tiny bit, but I'd eat my hat if I found out he wasn't half-machine. Now about this headache – what exactly are you all doing behind my back here? Couldn't be sure it was intentional or by accident.

The metal monster-man seemed content with my answer, vanishing from view immediately while ignoring my questions. Not surprising either, considering how they worked. I'm going to guess they had no idea about the headache that had started to leak into me since Mary's home.  
Discussion over lunch kept going through a wide range of topics. We even discussed our clan name – because ultimately we had too many members to be just a group by now. We got nowhere, names were either lame or too try-hard. Inevitably we all decided we should take a few days to think it over.  
The next topic was something of a favorite of mine.  
"Knowing about the enemy we fight, their weak points, what venoms work on them, where they sleep at night and so forth should be something we should find out. Last I checked at the book store, there was a pretty beefy journal explaining knowledge the human race has collected on everything out there that wants to stab, eat or otherwise ruin our day. I say we put our money together and buy that book."  
"How much is it?" Manato asked, already calculating the expense. I didn't need to offer much more to convince the rest that this book would be our new best friend.

As for enchantments, I learned very quickly that talking to her about enchantments was a very good idea – I'd have wasted at least ten or more silver, or lost my life if I'd tried to stick five enchantments on my armor. Mary had a necklace with an unglyphed gem and a single enchantment – on her boots. And at that, it was a quality of life improvement ultimately. Glyph of feather walk, which according to the vendors 'weakened the chains of the earth upon anything that compresses the glyph.'

Mary, and the air above her for about three feet weighed less. The glyph cut down on gravity by a good chunk, making the strain of hiking greatly more manageable. The problem was that the glyph only worked against compression. The moment Mary would jump in the air, her full weight would return. In addition, she needed to learn a whole new way of running and walking before she got a solid return investment on those boot soles. According to her, it was well worth it. Being well rested before fights was far more important to Mary.

"Enchantments are a dangerous subject Silas. The rookie mistake is getting more then one, and making them all important."  
"I'm going to guess over-reliance?"  
"Yes. A good enchantment must be something you can live without, use only as a trump card, or built to endure. If it's a core part of your combat there will be danger when it fails. Have you seen how Mogzo continually fusses over that rune at the base of his sword during maintenance?"  
"I could swear you expect these things to break every other step here. You're describing them like fine china."  
"Enchantments, especially the more intricate ones, do fail often Silas. Sometimes not even in combat. A healing spell could disrupt an enchantment if it's badly made. Every enemy spell you take has a chance of causing an enchantment to fail. Multiple enchantments restrict your movement greatly, least you destroy them just by rolling in a fall. The merchants will tell you five or six is possible, but they have an agenda behind that of course."

Oh. Shit. The only source of information I'd got was from the very people trying to get the money out of me. Heh, we've been almost had.  
"You didn't realize?" Mary asked, almost shocked.  
"Uhhh… I'm very gullible?"

The priestess sighed, elbow on the table, one hand cradling her forehead. "Boots are a good choice for a more complicated enchantment Silas. Few people attack your boots. Few ways that your boots would be anywhere near the other enchantments. If your feet reaches your arms or chest, you will have worse things to worry about then enchantments failing on you. After that, one more enchantment on either your hands, head, chest or weapon. I'd have one too, but my own magic is cast mostly near my chest and hands which makes those areas impractical."  
She continued her lecture, mostly to me but I noticed Manato had taken out his own journal and begun diligently taking notes. Shihoru listened in, hearing how some mages often enchanted their hats, or the back of their robe like Mary could have. Mages, unlike priest, didn't have as much weight of responsibility. If a glyph on the back of their robe flared up and distorted their spells, they could take a step back, wait it out and try again after. Mary didn't have that luxury, so she refrained from enchanting her robe.

Warriors had a lot more options since our magic was extremely low key and tended to never intercept with any 'high' static from the glyphs. We'd usually have around two to three, in places where your armor wouldn't be likely to interlock. For example, forearm and the back of your chest. No situation in combat would you have twisted your arm to the point it'd be close enough to fizzle out. Weapons were especially popular, although usually restricted a lot of other spots for glyphs except for the lower back – assuming you sheathed your weapon on top of your backpack and not on your hips. On the opposite spectrum, if you did sheath your weapon by your hips, putting the glyph on your helm was a good pick.

All of this assumed for a specialized glyph. Simple and clean glyphs like the Atlas one, were built to endure any sort of punishment you threw at them except for long term exposure to magic that would erode the glyph eventually. So with those you could place them much more liberally, expecting them to survive a round of combat and be repaired after. Glyphing arrows was a really good tactic against mages. The right disruption glyph would have an arrow punch through any magic attack or defense. Problem was carrying more than one of those. You'd need a dampening blanket which smothered magic, and those were pretty expensive and not at all durable.

Gems were a whole other field, despite the overlap. Gem effects were usually small passive increases to your body, unlike glyphs that could do anything. Usually the glyphs inscribed on gems didn't actually _do_ anything other than tap into the gem's latent magic and direct it into you. So having them close together wouldn't fry them and the glyphs almost never made problems. Instead, gems became weaker the closer they were to another. Pull them apart, the gem would be perfectly fine again. The whole topic was a bit confusing to me since apparently unglyphed gems were important to mages for being able to channel and focus magic. That whole topic was much more important to anyone casting spells. Of course, the voices in my head weren't done with me yet.

The sing-song echo returned, drowning out the continuous muttering white nose and this time bringing with it a test on my very sanity. _" **Whale** , hello there! I feel so **ice** -solated since I joined so late."_  
My eye twitched. Oh no. No no no no no. I'd made it this far, you have got to me kidding me.  
 _"But you know, life is hard I **bear** -ly made it through the week."_  
My stomach made knots as I felt the extraordinary need to slam my head on the table. The headache was back again, in full effect.

"Unglyphed gems are mostly useless for warriors." Mary concluded. "Any other questions or can I finish eating now?"  
"Thanks for telling us all that Mary, it's useful to know." Manato smiled back, to which she tutted.  
"I'd rather you continued without enchantments yet. It's important to never rely on anything other than your own skills."

 _"SB, you can call me Sir G9, you know, cause I'm so **G9ine**."_  
A very small groan came out of my mouth, but I had an impressive control over my face, keeping it neutral in front of the rest of the group chatting. On the more somber note, I felt that click in my head again, as if something was coming up against an edge inside somewhere and it had nothing to do with the onslaught of terrible puns.  
 _"Don't worry about Manato situation, before you know it you'll be **bro** - **ccolis** again."_  
What did that even mean?! Is this sort of torture even legal?! Can I beat you people up in the spirit world come to think of it? Last fang told me it was a giant multi-headed spirit sitting in my head right? Spirts in the spirit world – I'm absolutely going to have my vengeance the moment we step through. Woofus, I counting on you being a bro here.

 _"Spirit world huh... **Alpaca** lunch." _ The voice snickered back instead.  
The beads of cold sweat dropped by my cheek, the urge to curl up and cringe was as insufferable as that goddamn headache.  
 _"Oh and SB, next time or someone else feels down, just tell them this."_ The voice continued, a certain edge in it. It was mounting for the killing bow. I steeled what was left of my resolve. _"You're living, you occupy space, and have mass. You know what that means?"_  
Please. Have mercy.  
 _"You **matter**."_

My head slammed on the table, while I furiously scratched the messy tangle of hair on my head groaning.  
"Silas! What's wrong?" Mary half shouted, clearly startled at my antics.  
A deep breath returned to me, "N-nothing. Just thought of a really corny joke. Don't ask. Trust me." The voice was laughing it's ass off in my head all the while. That moment, I swore eternal everlasting vengeance on Sir Horrible Puns.

They weren't done yet, the voice just continued onwards, _"Hmmm, Looks like enchantments are harder to utilize then I thought. Based on what you learnt, I like to suggest that you look in getting a tattoo enchantment with the reasoning that unlike an armor enchant, it grants you the power regardless if armor is worn or not and it also does not require you to get it enchanted again whenever you switch gear."_  
"Mary, what's the story on glyphs as tattoos?" I asked, nursing that headache.  
"Very niche. I'm sure you can guess yourself the benefits and the costs behind that. I'd be wary of anything that's permanent. Knowing how you rush into doing everything by yourself I'm sure my warning will fall on deaf ears. So at least do the proper research, ask your guild trainer. They would know more useful enchantments other warriors take."

She continued to nag me about small details, but the conversation quickly turned to a brighter future: The glimmer of hope - Home enchantments tended to be low-power and usually durable enough. Plus, your bed wasn't going to mysteriously find itself right next to your water purifier, so you wouldn't have to constantly think 'what could go wrong?' and instead go with impulse buying. You know what that meant – It's time to splurge on a few glyphs of total comfort, link them together into one massive networked glyph and sprinkle that bad boy all over my straw mattress. This day was just getting better. On the flip side, those vendors hadn't mentioned getting those nice things for trips could fry your fancy military enchantments too. Turn your bag into the best pillow? Great – but if you put your enchanted helmet anywhere near you could kiss your pillow or your helmet goodbye. This world sucked.

The accent was pretty interesting to discuss. None of them knew about it, not even Mary. But this was the sort of secret that once told was completely unforgettable. You just _knew_ and paid more attention to how you said things. Some of us were hopeless at figuring it out. Mary and Shihoru weren't able to make any progress, whereas Manato did slightly better. It ended up just being a lighthearted topic to wrap up the lunch on. The real downer was the growing realization we were being played on just because we had a funny accent.

I shooed the bad thoughts away and sat back up, changing the discussion to guilds. Long story short: We're batshit insane to think about forging our own guild. The crimson moon would disavow us off the bat – which would sour our relationships with a lot of what we took for granted. The system was built to keep Crimson Moon members inside the crimson moon guild, well under their careful thumbs. Nobody wanted a revolution on their hands, especially not from the toy soldiers they'd rotate out every month.

Which lead us to another somber discussion: I don't think we were liked in this world. Worse, the system was built for them to make a profit on us by huge margins looking objectively at all this. Ultimately, if you broke it down we were the little seen foreigners that spoke weird, dressed strangely, and only went out to fight. At best, they saw us as mercenaries for hire. At worst – an ever-replenishing supply of barbaric soldiers that fit in their society for only one purpose. The only people we've talked to were people who directly had something to gain from us, goods to trade, and the like. And half of them were trying to weasel more money out of us without a care. Everyone else – everyone who mattered - like the local politicians, representation, and so forth we've never met yet. I had a hunch it was much more complicated than just that but other then what I've seen there was no way to tell the rest of the story. Where had this distrust come from in the first place? Come to think of it, Woofus said he hadn't ever heard of the Crimson Moon before, so there must have been a starting point somewhere and it was within the last century. History was expensive, I wouldn't get the answer without paying a good set of silver for the information.

That made the rest of the discussion over lunch go a little grim. Which of course, lead us straight to the mimic and what we'd gotten out of it. Because if we're talking about terrible things, what's worse than a chest monster out to make lunch from our bones? For the most part, keeping the teeth was a good move. Manato was going to try his hand at selling them to the alchemist's guild, while he'd send Haru out to the bank and get an objective appraisal for the item. Another voice crept into my head, filling me with another idea.

 _"Teeth-wise, they can be used currently as utility tools. A locked door? Cut the lock. A rusted portcullis? Cut the bars. A barred gate? Cut the hinges."_ Marshaling my thoughts, I fought back the headache for a moment to think back. _Wouldn't really work, friend_. The teeth might be harder than metal, but my arms are weaker. Best I could do is bang on it all night with the tooth until I get exhausted. Just because it's harder than metal doesn't mean it'll magically cut through metal. Are you Lex, or Yii? There was a disconnect and I couldn't quite tell who was talking.

 _"Ah, I am Grosstoad."_ The voice answered back easily enough. Pain flared through my mind, the click turned to a slam, then immediately ended just as quickly as it'd started. Completely ended, not even the dull headache remained any longer. I was left feeling at peace, oddly enough. Like the nail in my head had been removed just then.  
 _Did you do something?_ I asked the voice, but didn't get an answer back. Running through my memories, I noticed nothing had gone. Still felt like me. Ahhh… Out of my mind for now, no point worrying about it if I couldn't tell in a minute what was wrong. I likely wouldn't be able to tell in another five either. I tuned back into the conversation nervously.

Which had mostly wrapped up by now. Everyone had finished eating a good moment ago, so cleaning up the table was the next step. The voice changed pitch and prodded from the side, _"I'd suggest discussing where to go from here as you and your pack will not stay hunting for goblins forever, or rather, what you were supposed to hunt anyway."_

"Manato," I called out while picking up the scraps on the table, "Hunting goblins at the ruins is fine, but we can't keep doing this forever."  
"Why not? It pays well, we're able to make our living comfortably enough. Most merchants make two or three silver a day. We've had days were we've made that same mark. We've gotten good at it, the risks are minimal."  
Shihoru nodded at the side, "I'm… ok with staying like we are. Yume would also be fine with it."  
Mary had no opinion, she just continued with her work by the sink.

"… hmm." I scratched my head in thought. "Don't you guys want to retire earlier? The forest is the typical stopping point for most Crimson Moon, we've been running against competition. Other places might offer better goods to hunt that aren't claimed by any groups."  
Manato took a moment to think, "You've got a point there, but it's only been a few weeks. I think we should focus on getting our teamwork down right before we move on to another spot."

Right. That put an end on the discussion. Manato was the leader after all, and he was filling into the role with more confidence each day.  
 _"Also Silas, I am not as demonic as you think as my name is Onii-, with the long "i", not Oni-. That is all."_ The voice continued, which made me double-take. I thought it was Sir Puns-a-lot I was talking to right now? When did you swap with Lord totally-not-aku? Then it clicked - I couldn't tell the voices apart anymore.

"One last topic before we break for the afternoon," Manato brought up, "The spirit we met at the shrine, I still have his call sign here. When should we undertake that trip?"  
"I'd vote after we're all done gaining new skills. We could set it aside indefinitely, but I don't think that's the best idea."  
The priest nodded, "Let's say after these three days. The group should all have their new skills by then. We can get together and decide it then. Also, Silas I'm going to be bringing that Orb to the head priest tomorrow, any objections?"

I shook my head, "Naw, I think that's a good idea too. Don't want to hold onto that thing for longer. Make sure that priest doesn't spill the beans to anyone else, we don't want the wrong attention right now."

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

With lunch over, I was left a few new tasks to complete. First thing's first: Go buy myself those quality of life enchantments. Shihoru decided to stay with Manato waiting for Mogzo to return from the armor smith, and I tactfully decided to leave the budding couple to themselves. As for Mary, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to ask her to stick around or let her go do whatever she was planning to do today.

The voices in my head changed pitch again, then resurfaced to the front. _"I don't think you should contemplate about lust and crush yet since she's still on the border about fully committing to your team. You have the unfair advantage of getting to know about her from the voices in your head - you weirdo - so she won't know about you nearly as much."_ It went over a bit more advice, changing pitch again and again while I listened in. Really though, it wasn't a hard decision.

"Wanna come with, Mary?" I asked the priest, making my way to the door. "I'm going down the merchant's again to buy myself those quality of life enchantments."  
"If I don't you'll end up buying the wrong items." She reminded me, "What were your words again? Gullible?" She followed me out into the streets, and we set our direction to the merchant's district.  
"That'd be more accurate then I'd want to admit. Tell you what, I'll sweeten the pot for the advice. Let's go get you something nice too while we're out in the market, my treat."  
"There's no need for that." The stubborn priest huffed.  
"I think it'll be fun. Besides, you're my friend. We haven't had much time just spending it with nothing terribly pressing."  
Mary was quiet for a moment, which made me think I'd said the wrong thing. But the priest must have had her attention taken by something else for that moment.

"Fine, but don't get any ideas."  
"What sort of ideas are we talking about here? Are you insinuating I'm up to no good again?"  
"That's always a concern with you Silas."  
"Glad to know I've already got an infamous reputation. Say, can I get a woman's perspective on something?"  
"Yes?"  
"Do you think Manato likes Shihoru? I'm pretty sure the girl likes him a lot, but I can't tell if that priest is dense to it, or deliberately trying to keep the status quo here…"

We continued chatting for a good while, I think I was slowly pulling her out of that shell she'd been in. Discussing about other people tended to make her forget the situation she'd dug herself in. The funniest thing: Mary was completely oblivious to the going on, apparently never having noticed herself just yet the budding possible couple. Not to mention she didn't have any experience with relationships in general. Once pointed out, it was obvious the mage had a huge puppy crush on her priest. But that priest was an enigma on its own. Neither of us had a clue what was going through his head. So while I didn't get any new insight on our other priest, I did manage to make Mary talk much more than she ever had in the past which was the real goal. It was adorable when the girl realized herself just how chatty she'd become – she'd quickly turned mute again and shot me a furious look. The sort of _I know what you're up to, you snake!_

It was on and off for the rest of the trip, each time she realized I'd once again tricked her into talking she'd simmer in quiet fury before the cycle would eventually sneak by again. We did end up getting a few quality of life Glyphs from the furniture merchant. A rather large blanket fitted with the glyph would make any bed from now till the distant future as great as a king's. With Mary's help, I'd found the best glyph and quilt for the job.

We did visit the armorsmith again, this time to recover military glyphs. Mogzo had come and gone a while ago so we didn't run into the big man himself. I had a few ideas on what to get, but ultimately I decided to re-visit this after speaking to Richard.

By the time we left the merchant's district, I had a small wicker basket with a surprise gift for Mary - shortcake I found at a bakery. I'd asked her to stay put for a moment while I went out to get the goods. It's better then her opening the basket up to an I.O.U  
"Don't look till you're back home. Keep it a surprise," I told her, handing off the basket to the girl. "I've got to meet up with Kate, that up-coming thief. Unless you want to tag along with me in that neighborhood?"  
"I respectfully decline. I've been dragged around enough for one day, thank you very much."  
"You're most welcome," I quipped back with a smile. "I figured you'd want to head home right about now. It was nice, see you tomorrow for Ranta Duty."

* * *

 **-O-O-O-W-O-O-O-**

Kate found me first, although I did hear her coming. She'd brought with her everything she owned, all wrapped up using her newly bought dress as a knapsack. She didn't want to wear the new dress, afraid the thief training might damage it. Her usual clothing was fine for the week long journey. On her neck, a slightly faded bronze insignia of a Crimson Moon trainee hung proudly enough. Like she'd said before, Kate had kept her insignia all this time. Now it would come in use.

We discussed some more like old friends, but in a few hours the night had come and the thieves guild loomed waiting for her. She set down her items on a crate for a moment then launched a surprise hug in my direction, burying her face into my chest. I returned the gesture, patting her head affectionately until the sniffles stopped. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to.

After a quiet moment, Kate had her fill and pushed back. The next moment she had her knapsack picked up with one hand, while the other knocked on the wooden door to the guild. A minute passed before it opened slowly, revealing a rather busty brunette.  
"What is it? I'm in the middle of training som- oh. And you are?"  
"Kate. I'm here to train as a thief." The little girl said, taking the pouch of silver I'd given her and offering it with a determined look.

"You look barely twelve. Come back in a year girl."  
"No." Kate said, putting her weight against the closing door. "I'm going to be a thief. Train me."  
"A backbone eh? Good, I don't train weaklings~ now come."

The door swung back open and Kate gave me a final look. Relief, happiness. A broad smile filled her mouth, then she disappeared into the guild.  
In a few hours Haru would probably be done with his training and walk out. I could wait for him, or I could head back to the inn right now. Just me, the empty streets and one venomous spider hanging quite hidden by my belt.

* * *

AN: And like all good things, RL caught up to me before I could get near any epilogue. Normally, the goal for this fic was to survive/subvert/defeat these bosses:

 **The armored Hobgoblin that killed Manato originally, (And the rest of his lackies)**  
 **Mary's old teammates**  
 **Deathspot**  
 **The Orc Warchief (The guy that leads the raid on Altana)**

After that, it'd be the trigger for the ending where S.B. survives to an older age, either retired and happily married, or perhaps a trainer in the warrior's guild sitting in Richard's desk waiting for the next line of recruits. Maybe another ending? I was planning on doing an omi-bus of this, several different epilogues all detailing possible paths S.B. might take after having survived the orc invasion - and where his teammates are as well. Didn't get to that - I need to shelve this as it's taking too much time and I don't have enough to go around. :[


End file.
